S4 League: The eSper Challenge
by kolosos666
Summary: A story about the challenge in which 8 of the best S4 players in the world compete to win a prize. They compete 1 on 1, untill only 1 is left..read it, i'm sure you'll like it...xD
1. Chapter 1

…..He was hiding in the shadows of a dumpster. Sitting in a dark alley, his left fist bleeding. A revolver in his right hand, with a full clip. His white sleeveles jacket all dusty and dirty. The baggy trousers he wore as messy as they can get. Drips of blood all over them, dust on the bottom, gunpowder on the top of them. A pair of broken glasses next to him, he was obviously in a bad condition. With a lot on his mind, he spoke quietly:

"Damn!"he laughed"Stealing that code was so worth it!"

…**Acessing Data Bank:Username – Kolosos666**

**Data type:History**

"Hey Cristo!Get your no good ass down here!We have a customer!"A man in his mid thirties yelled. Dressed in dirty clothes, he was all tired from his work. A mechanic by trade, his job was pretty hard. Working in his garage, right next to his house, he was always near his beloved.

"Comming dad!Lemme just finish the game!"A voice from inside the house was heard. After 2 minutes a boy, or rather a teen, came running inside. His hair was spiked and white. It seemed that his hair was natural too.

"I'm here. What do you need?"

"This guy here says his GPS is bugged. I need you to fix it."The man pointed at an Aston Martin, one of the newest models.

"Will do!"The boy went inside the car. Being 15 and hyper, he loved anything that involved electronics and programing. Probably why he was his dad's assistent, fixing electronics in cars for some pocket money.

He went inside the car, and got to work. He messed with the GPS for a while, until something very weird caught his attention. A fumbi figurine on the co-driver's seat. Not only that, but a letter with the S4 logo on it. The boy's curiosity was aroused. S4 League was his favourite game. He played it since open beta. But what could this be?He had heard that special codes were given out for the beta of the new atracion: The eSper City!But could this be it?Could this be the dream come true for someone else?He couldn't help but take a peak inside... And yes, when he opened it, a golden code was written on it. He wanted it so bad.

"Shit. If i steal it, i'll go to the beta of the city. But if dad catches me, i'm toast!"His mind was playing it safe, saying "Leave it alone!Just do your job and go back to playing S4 on your PC!" But his heart was telling him to steal it!To steal it and run away to the eSper City!

"Damnit!"He took it and put it in his pocket."Sorry dude, guess i'll see you when the open beta starts!"

He took the code, finished fixing the GPS and went running back to his room. That code, besides letting users access to the closed beta of the eSper city, it also allowed free play for life. Only elites got this code.

"Now let's see.."He quickly opened it."Which username is this adresed to...."He read the name:"kolosos666".

"Huh?Who is this guy?Must be some noob farmer. He won't miss it."He snickered. This was the happiest day of his life. Now all that was left was to tell his dad he's going away, and enjoy fighting for the rest of his life...

"No way!I'm not letting you go to this Pesker City or whatever it's name is!Games have ruined your life enough."

"But dad!This was what i dreamt off!"

"And what happens when you'll need to eat?Sleep?You'll need to work!And you can't do that unless you finish SCHOOL!"The dad yelled.

"Dad!Listen, the City provides free lodging and food to the Beta testers!So you don't have to worry about a thing!"

"No!That is my final answer!"The dad said his final word and went to the garage.

"Shit. What am i gonna do now?"His thoughts engoulfed him. He wanted to go to the city so bad, but he couldn't go without his dad's permision, and his dad stated his opinion clearly. Only option left was running away. After hours of thinking about it, he did it. He grabbed his backpack and filled it with clothes, the letter and all the money he had hidden under his bed, which was only 250 dollars.

"Let's see now. It says "kolosos666" needs to be at the airport tommorow at 6 PM at the S4 League special section. Ok, i've got time."He grabed the backpack and jumped out the window. He went into the first bus going to the airport.

"Great, i'm here, but i have to wait a whole day."And so he did. He walked for a while, and when he got tired, he fell asleep on some chairs....

"Yo dude, wake up!"Cristo heard a voice, and opened his eyes.

"You here for the city flight?"

"Hmm?"Cristo was still sleepy."Uhuh..i mean, yeah. You?"

"Yah. The name's Ruben. Nice to meet you."The guy standing said.

"Hold on. Lemme just wake up."Cristo said as he slammed his head into the chair's plastic.

"Ahh, that's better.I'm Cristo."He got up and put out his hand."Cristo Montela."

They shook hands.

"Well, the plane's here, but it's gonna take off in 2 hours. Wanna wait inside?"

"Yah, sure."Cristo went inside the plane, obviously bored. "Ooh look!There are PCs over there."

"Awesome!Wanna play some S4?"

"Way ahead of ya!"he was already logged in, waiting for Ruben.

"Ok, lemme just log in."Ruben sat in front of a PC. They both entered a private room.

Ruben was obviously stronger, after all, he was one of the few hundreds who got a key to the closed beta. He slaughtered Cristo.

"Dude, you're really weak."

"Meh, i'm just sleepy."Cristo tried to act it cool, but he knew Ruben was in a totally different league then him.

"Oh look, the airplane is taking off."He switched to another topic, after realising the plane was filled with people, all S4 League players. It was a long trip, but they made it. They immediately got their weapons a started shooting at each other. And in here, it was a totally different picture.

"Who's weak now bitch?"Cristo laughed, as his body was in great shape, and added the special conditions in the city, he was able to beat Ruben.

"Dude..You won by 2 points. That's like...2!"Ruben responded irritated. In the City it really was different the in game. But they loved it. They fought against each other often, becoming rivals even....

2 Years passed. Cristo was now 17, and Ruben 18. Both of them were one of the City's finest. And the announcment of the 8 participants in the eSper challenge was that week...

Cristo was on a rooftop, wearing white clothes and black glasses. Ruben walked up to him from behind.

"Both of us were chosen. I hope there will be no hard feelings if we fight."

"Feelings?Bitch, i'll own your ass!"Cristo laughed as Ruben was leaving. Then their watches beeped. Names appeared on the screens.

"You."Ruben mumbled.

"Yep bitch!Get ready to die!"Cristo pulled out his revolver and took a shot at Ruben, but Ruben turned around lightning fast and put up his shield, which absorbed the impact. He then shot Cristo in the arm with his handgun, causing the arm to bleed and Cristo to fall off the building. Cristo menaged to use his Counter Sword to soft the landing, but his hand was injured. He quickly ran into the nearest alley and hid behind a dumpster.

"Damn!"Cristo laughed"Stealing that code was so worth it!"......


	2. Chapter 2

..."You."Ruben mumbled.

"Yep bitch!Get ready to die!"Cristo pulled out his revolver and took a shot at Ruben, but Ruben turned around lightning fast and put up his shield, which absorbed the impact. He then shot Cristo in the arm with his handgun, causing the arm to bleed and Cristo to fall off the building.

"Damn idiot. What's he thinking?He never does think!"Ruben said, jumping off the building in pursuit of Cristo.

…**Accessing Data Bank:Username – TheLastProject**

**Data type:History**

12 AM, a sunny day. For some, perfect time for playing football with your friends, rollerblading. For TheLastProject, a perfect day to stay indoors and play S4. One of the best at the game, Ruben, or as his alias goes- TheLastProject, had little talent for the game. But what he lacked in talent, he made up in hardcore playing time. Spending most of his time in front of his PC, going out only for school. He indeed was a pro. Knowing every weapon, every weakness and strength. Every map, every angle of shooting.

"Ruben honey, it's a sunny day. You should call your friends over and play some football outside."

"In a minute mom, just let me finish this game."

"Stupid kid. That computer is ruining your life."

"Yeah yeah. I know."Ruben thought to himself, even thought he refused to accept that. He never did go out that day. He got entangled into games after games.

"Ruben. You should study!That intelligence of yours isn't enough you know!"

"But mom, all my grades are perfect!I know everything!"and in a way it was true. At school he was focused on studying, learning everything at first glance of the lecture. He was intelligent, but that didn't help him in S4. He had to play hours after hours just to be on the same skill level as the rest. And finally, when the eSper City was announced, Ruben knew his hard work had payed off. Soon the closed beta key came.

"Mom. You're gonna be glad about this. I'm finally gonna play !"He showed the beta key to his mother, who had always been worried about him.

"I don't know honey. I want you to go to school and become successful."

"But you don't have to worry about that anymore. With this, i WILL be successful."Ruben hugged his mom.

"OK honey. But be careful ok?"Ruben's mom couldn't argue with him. She knew that once her son sets his mind onto something, there's no changing it.

And with his mom's blessing, Ruben packed his bags and set on the road. The airport was in another city, so he had to go with 2 busses. He arrived at the airport, and saw the special section for eSper city. He sat nearby, so he could observe what's going on. Then something interesting caught his eye. It was a teenager sleeping on some chairs. He couldn't help but wake him up. He walked up to the guy and after he was sure he's asleep, Ruben said:

"Yo dude, Wake up!"He nudged the guy. After a few seconds he was up."You here for the city flight?"

The guy, still sleepy, answered."Uhuh..i mean, yeah. You?"

"Yah. The name's Ruben. Nice to meet you."Ruben answered.

"Hold on. Lemme just wake up."the guy said as he slammed his head into the chairs plastic.

Ruben wondered what kind of a guy slams his head in a chair to wake up. He was weird.

"Ah, that's better.I'm Cristo."He got up and put out his hand."Cristo Montela."

They shook hands.

"Well, the plane's here, but it's gonna take off in 2 hours. Wanna wait inside?"

"Yah, sure."Cristo went inside the plane, obviously bored. Ruben followed him, walking slowly.

"Ooh look!There are PCs over there."

"Awesome!Wanna play some S4?"Ruben got excited at very first thought of playing S4.

"Way ahead of ya!"Cristo was already logged in, waiting for Ruben.

"Ok, lemme just log in."Ruben sat in front of a PC. Both of them entered a private room.

Ruben started fighting, and he proved stronger. Much stronger, as if he was playing against some rookie.

"Dude, you're really weak."

"Meh, i'm just sleepy."Cristo answered.

"Yeah, it's probably that."Ruben thought.

"Oh look, the airplane is taking off."Cristo said as the plane really was taking off. Ruben was too busy fighting to notice. The rest of the flight was boring as they had to stay in their seats. And right after the arrival in the eSper City they immediately got their weapons a started shooting at each other. And in here, it was a totally different picture.

"Who's weak now bitch?"Cristo laughed, as his body was in great shape, and added the special conditions in the city, he was able to beat Ruben.

"Dude..You won by 2 points. That's like...2!"Ruben responded irritated. He had to admit it. This really was different then the game. In the City the conditions were totally different. But they loved it. They fought against each other often, becoming rivals even....

2 Years passed. Ruben was now 18, and his rival Cristo 17. Both of them were one of the City's finest. And the announcment of the 8 participants in the eSper challenge was that week...

Ruben was walking on a rooftop. Walking towards Cristo who was standing on the edge of the roof.

"Both of us were chosen. I hope there will be no hard feelings if we fight."He said to him.

"Feelings?Bitch, i'll own your ass!"Cristo laughed as Ruben turned around and started walking away. Then their watches beeped. Names appeared on the screens.

"You."Ruben mumbled.

"Yep bitch!Get ready to die!"Cristo pulled out his revolver and took a shot at Ruben, but Ruben turned around lightning fast and put up his shield, which absorbed the impact. His reflexes have improved over the 2 years time he had spent here. His physique was more muscular, he was a warrior now, not a nerd. He then shot Cristo in the arm with his handgun, causing the arm to bleed and Cristo to fall off the building.

"Damn idiot. What's he thinking?He never does think!"Ruben said, jumping off the building in persuit of Cristo.


	3. Chapter 3

..."You."Ruben mumbled.

"Yep bitch!Get ready to die!"Cristo pulled out his revolver and took a shot at Ruben, but Ruben turned around lightning fast and put up his shield, which absorbed the impact. He then shot Cristo in the arm with his handgun, causing the arm to bleed and Cristo to fall off the building.

"Damn idiot. What's he thinking?He never does think!"Ruben said, jumping off the building in persuit of Cristo.

As Cristo was falling, he menaged to use his Counter Sword to soft the landing, but his hand was injured. He quickly ran into the nearest alley and hid behind a dumpster.

"Shit!I'm starting to regret stealing that code."......

**Acessing Data Bank: kolosos666 vs TheLastProject**

**Data type: Duel**

"Shit!"Cristo looked at his hand. It started healing. The flesh regrew and it was as if it never got shot in the first place. But a meter on his watch showed a loss of health. He was down to 113 from the previous 130 health points. He was feeling great, but he knew that he'll lose if the meter was to drop down to 0. But the same would happen to his opponent too. And Cristo knew that. He had to finish his opponent before his opponent finished him.

"Run and run Cristo. But you can't hide!I know this city like that back of my hand."Ruben was walking to the edge of the roof, looking down at Cristo from the top of a building. He then shot a round at Cristo. The bullet was fast, but Cristo was faster. With a swift move, he punched the top of the dumpster into the air, and used that as both a shield and a distraction. The bullet hit the metal, and as Ruben was watching that, Cristo snook out and went out of sight.

"Again. You know you can't hide!"Ruben calmly shouted.

"Who says i'm hiding, Project?"Cristo swirled his revolver barrel, and shot a bullet, which split into 4 minor fragments, the center one hiting the piece of cement Ruben was standing on. That part of the roof started collapsing, and Ruben went flying downwards. But as he was falling, he took out his Counter Sword and jabbed the sword into the wall of the building, menaging to stay hooked on the wall.

"Not too shabby little one."Cristo was laughing at Ruben, taunting him as Ruben was a bit shorter then him, even though he was older a year and a half.

"Hey. Do you see ME rambling on about your hair?"Ruben climbed on the sword, which was still hooked on the wall.

"What's wrong with my hair?"Cristo scratched his head, or hair to be exact.

Ruben simply smirked. He then jumped up, and while falling grabbed the sword off the wall. He then started running downwards on the surface of the building. And as he was in a momentum, he suddenly propeled from the wall and into Cristo at bullet speed. Cristo materialised his counter sword in the last second, menaging to block the attack with his metal fist. But even so, he got pushed back. But he used that momentum to turn around, and send Ruben flying horizontally with the back of his metal fist. From the force of the blow, Ruben went unconcious, but for a mere nano second, as he regenerated, but lost 24 health points, and had only 76 health points left, because he had 100 to begin with. He menaged to turn around and land on his feet.

"Cmon Project. You can't defeat me with a Counter Sword."Cristo laughed

Ruben smirked again.

"Maybe, maybe."He pulled out his Sub-Machine gun, or SMG for short, and unleashed a barage of bullets at Cristo. And with his shield on, Cristo would be wasting bullets. So instead he hid behind a car. Ruben kept shooting until his clip was emptied.

"Out of bullets shorty?"Cristo laughed, as he got ontop of the damaged car.

"Showtime!"He pulled out his revolver and shot at the engine of the car, making it blow up, and propelng him along with the car into the air towards Ruben. Cristo jumped off, and pulled out his Heavy Machine Gun, or HMG for short, and started shooting from mid air at Ruben. Ruben dodged to the left, and quickly put out his shield so he isn't punctured by the many bullets. Both of them were shooting at each other. Cristo eventually landed on the ground. His HMG was empty, so he ran behind a truck for a reload.

"Scared Kolo?"Ruben shoted out at him, reloading his handgun.

"Nah. Just reloading."Cristo was enjoying himself.

"Good!"Ruben jumped above Cristo, and shot at him with his handgun, but he didn't expect Cristo to pull out his revolver, and to shoot at him, the middle part of the bullet deflecting his handgun one, and one of the other parts mising his head by an inch. Ruben landed on his feet, now both of them face to face. Ruben pulled out his Counter Sword. Cristo smiled as he sent a bullet flying into Ruben, but Ruben dodged it, and sent a blue fist going at Cristo. Cristo jumped, only to end up in the air, and the truck going after him. Because Cristo evaded, the fist went into the truck, propeling it into the air. Cristo steped on the truck only to jump off of him, and onto the roof of a nearby pole.

"Cmon!"He taunted Ruben.

"Let's go then!"Ruben went running at the pole, and Cristo moved too. He was running downwards on the pole's surface, and Ruben jumped up and bounced off from the falling truck back into the air and into Cristo. Both of them with their Counter Swords, they slammed them against each other. A small explosion happened, and both of them ended up back on the street, each losing 14 health points. It was clear from that moment.....The battle had just begun....


	4. Chapter 4

"C'mon!"He taunted Ruben.

"Let's go then!"Ruben went running at the pole, and Cristo moved too. He was running downwards on the pole's surface, and Ruben jumped up and bounced off from the falling truck back into the air and into Cristo. Both of them with their Counter Swords, they slammed them against each other. A small explosion happened, and both of them ended up back on the street, each losing 14 health points. It was clear from that moment.....The battle had just begun....

**Accessing Data Bank: kolosos666 vs ****TheLastProject**

**Data type: Duel, part 2**

Both of them were looking at eachothers' eyes. Cristo had 99 health points left, and Ruben was down to 62. Ruben was incredibly concentrated, trying to predict his opponent's next move. Cristo on the other hand, was loose, and started smiling. To, him this was nothing more then a way to past the time.

"Whatcha gonna do, Shorty?"He taunted Ruben."Lemme guess. You're thinking i'll start shooting at ya with the revolver no?"Cristo used his revolver to scratch his head"So then you can convenietly use your handgun to shoot me down while that shield is protecting you."He took out his Revolver and pointed it at Ruben.

"Has anybody told you...that you talk too much?"Ruben kept his focus, not paying attention to the trash talk Cristo was giving him. He was determined to win. Cristo was always better then him. Always stronger, always faster!But Ruben knew that this was his chance to beat Cristo. To prove he's as good as him. To get his respect!

"Only you shorty!"Cristo started running at Ruben, and as they were both on the street, he menaged to step on a nearby vehicle and jump off of it while keeping his revolver pointed at Ruben. Ruben took out handgun and started shooting at him. He put up his shield and kept shooting at Cristo, who got shot in the leg, and in the torso, and lost 33 health points. But he didn't regret it, instead saying:

"Typical!"He materialized his Counter Sword, slamming into the ground Ruben was standing on, lifting him in the air and making him lose 15 health points. While Ruben was in the air, he menaged to hit Cristo once again, in the right shoulder, putting him down to 52 health points, himself being at 48. Ruben menaged to land safely on the top of a fire fighters' truck. He took out his SMG and started shooting at Cristo. Cristo didn't gave much thought, and started running, evading the bullets in the process. He jumped on the side of a building, and started running on the wall. In the process, he took out his HMG, shooting at the fire truck as he was running, using one hand to shoot the HMG, and another to keep his balance while running. Ruben knew what was coming, so he kicked the extendable stairs, and went running up on them. He wasn't wrong. From the amount of bullets, the truck exploded, creating enough of a momentum for Ruben to jump off the stairs, and head straight down at Cristo, materializing his Counter Sword in the process. Cristo dodged to the side in the right moment, so that Ruben was headed to the wall, puncturing it with the strenght of his hit.

He found himself inside a conveniace store. Cristo went following him, pulling out his revolver.

"Hmm..Might grab a snack while I'm in here."He grabed a bag of cheetos, opening it in front of Ruben.

"You're in the middle of a fight, and you wanna eat?"

"Sure...Want some?"Cristo said, throwing the bag of cheetos, shooting his revolver through the bag. Ruben acted fast, dodging to the side, and behind a counter. He was cornered, and his options were limited. If he put up his shield, Cristo would use his CS. He could use his CS, but he could never win in a sword fight. So he looked around, and saw his ticket out of this situation. A chair!

"Yo Kol!Guess what?"Ruben smirked. He took the chair and sent it at great speed at Cristo. Acting fast, Cristo jumped on the chair, riding it like a board. Ruben then went running at him, shooting at him with his handgun. Cristo menaged to dodge them, shooting at Ruben with his revolver in the process. But this was a store, and he was headed towards a wall. But then he suddenly backflipped, bouncing off the wall, and heading towards Ruben. Ruben kept running, and slided under him, both of them shooting at each other. They had pin point accuracy, deflecting each bullet send at em. Ruben kept sliding, until he did a pirouette, moving in the air so he ended facing Cristo. Cristo did a similar thing, doing a front flip while turning around, so they ended up yet again face to face.

"Having fun Project?"Cristo pointed his Revolver at him.

"Truth be told, I am."Ruben smiled.

They were in between two shelves, one was stacked with chocolate bars, the other with soft drinks. Cristo was out of bullets for his revolver, and Ruben's handgun was empty as well. They both had to reload. But they didn't have the time for that. Cristo took out his HMG, and started shooting at Ruben. But Ruben's shield absorbed all of the dammage. Cristo knew he won't land a hit on his opponent, so instead, he jumped, and bounced from the chocolate shelf, going above the drinks one, shooting HMG in the process. He bended his knees, and curled like a ball, he went above the drinks stand, and into the vegetables area. Ruben went after him as Cristo was jumping, and punched the shelf with his Counter sword, making it crash on Cristo, trapping him under the shelf.

"It's over Cristo. You're trapped. And i've got my handgun ready."

"Says the shorty whose ass i'm about to beat!"

Cristo punched up the shelf in the air, and propelled himself at Ruben. He was enraged, being humiliated like that. He took out his Counter sword and swung it forwards at Ruben. But Ruben was ready for him, shifting to the side by a mere inch, evading the hit. Cristo went flying, but Ruben's hand grabbed his shirt. He was pulled back, and now Ruben's handgun was pointed at the back of his head.

Cristo laughed, even though this meant sertain defeat for him.

"Well played Project."Cristo turned around facing him.

"Was nice seing you Kol!"He pulled the trigger and turned around. He didn't want to see what was going to happen. But as Cristo's body turned into ones and zeros, a voice yelled.

"Don't think you're better Shorty!I'll be back, and kick your ass like i always do!"Cristo laughed.. And Ruben smiled as well. His watch reseted, showing 100 health points again. This battle had come to an end.....


	5. Chapter 5

….A rainy night. Rain pouring on the streets of the eSper City. Battles were raging all over the city. Each of them for the eSper Challenge. All but one, that is. He was standing on the tallest building, watching everyone. But he was interested in one person. Smoking his cigarette he looked at his watch and said:

"Wee Thorns, you're getting tomahawk'd this night!"....

…**Accessing**** Data Bank:Username – Hatchet**

**Data type:History**

They call it the Valley of ashes....A city ruled by crime and drugs. Drug cartels ragging wars all over the streets, wrecking buildings, killing innocent people, dealing drug to increase their funding, and worst of all, recruiting kids in their ranks. Patrick Silva was one of those kids. He was adopted by the MTD, one of the three mayor cartels in the city. He was given a gun and told to kill. But a mere kid, he knew nothing of violence....

"Kid!You've got a gun now learn how to use it dammit!"an older man smacked Patrick. He was obviously the leader of this gang, wearing expensive clothes, smoking a Cuban cigar and ordering everybody around."This is what you do!"He took the gun from Patrick's hands, pointing it at a gang member behind him, and without even turning around, he pulled the trigger. The bullet came out of the barrel, and into the man's forehead, causing him to die on the spot. Little Patrick was frightened, but he had no other choice, then to take the gun, and learn to survive in this cruel world.

"Good boy."The man tapped Patrick on the head."Ok, now see that can over there?I want you to shoot it."He pointed at an empty can of beer. Patrick closed his eyes, and pressed the trigger. The bullet came out, but missed the can, and hit the wall behind it. But he didn't gave up. One bullet after another, target after target, he was soon an expert with not just a gun, but any firearm. And with great accuracy. He was MTD's top marksman. They trained him with deadly tactics, and cheap warfare strategy. The way of the guerrilla. Fighting dirty, using every trick in the book, only to win. He was a skilled thief as well. Using parkour skills to their full extent, he could run through any obstacle terrain. And at a young age, nobody would doubt him. When he was 15 he had already killed a dosen men. But with his gang membership came the vices. He started smoking, and drinking. But this was all he knew. The only world he was aware off....

But soon they came...From a rival gang. A gang member found out about him, and tracked him down to his home. He went to his house at night, beating him to a coma...

"He he."The man was smiling."So you finally came to, huh?"He grabbed the now-conscious Patrick and lifted him up by his head."Here's how you stand kiddo. You got two choices. Either join "Phoenix", or i leave you here to bleed to death. Your choice."

Hatchet had no choice, so with the little strength he had in him, he nodded his head. And just like that, he was now a part of the other mayor gang - "Phoenix".

After a few weeks, his wounds were all healed, and they took him to meet the leader of "Phoenix"...

"So, you're MTD's assassin am i right?"The leader of Phoenix asked Patrick."Well now you work for me. And here's your first job."he handed over a photo to Patrick. It was his former boss, the leader of MTD. Patrick, with his will already crushed from the day he took a gun in his hand, accepted."Good good. You kill him, and ask the members if they want to join Phoenix. If not, kill them all."He waved his hand, dismissing Patrick."Oh and, before you go, what's your name son?"

"They call me Hatchet sir."Patrick grabbed a rifle and left. In the middle of a rainy night, he was standing on the roof of a building, approximately a mile away from MTD's headquarters, a long abandoned warehouse, now filled with drugs and the members of MTD. He took a stance, and pointed his gun. He had his target in sight, and was ready to shoot. But suddenly, his mind got distracted by a piece of paper.

"eSper City?"He read off the piece of paper."Bunch of bullshit to keep kids busy off the real world."He ignored this and again looked through the scope. A second later, he pressed the trigger. A swirling bullet went soaring into the air, spinning like a turbine. And the words inscribed in the metal:"You've just been tomahawk'd". It jammed into the head of the MTD leader. Screams were heard from the headquarters, so Patrick knew what he had to do. He went to the warehouse, climbing up to a window and yelling.

"Your leader is dead. I offer you to join "Phoenix"!"

"The hell?Who do you think you are?Shoot him down!"Someone yelled as people started taking rifles and shooting at Patrick. Patrick hid behind a wall. Knowing his orders, he took out a grenade. But just before he took out the safety pin, he noticed something. That same piece of paper from before. A thought went through his mind. He could be free. No more cartels, no more bloodshed. He simply climbed up to the boss's room, and took his head. One day later, he was nowhere to be seen, with only the head of the boss at the doorsteps of Phoenix, and the note:"Mission accomplished, Hatchet out!"

1 year later, Patrick, or as his new name, Hatchet, was shooting through the streets of the eSper city. With the skills he had, he was now one of the best. Taking out his opponents, from afar and from close range. Another year passed. The eSper challenge began and Hatchet was one of the players selected. He knew what he had to do. It was night. He climbed on top of the highest building, holding a cigarette. He looked at his watch, which had the name of his opponent on it. It was Thorns, a girl.

"A girl?This shouldn't be hard."He lit the cigarette, puffing a cloud of smoke. It started raining, and his cigarette was now all wet. He dropped it, and took his aim with his rail gun.

"Well Thorns, you're getting tomahawk'd this night!"He jumped off the roof.....


	6. Chapter 6

…."A girl? This shouldn't be hard."Hatchet lit the cigarette, puffing a cloud of smoke. It started raining, and his cigarette was now all wet. He dropped it, and took his aim with his rail gun.  
"Well Thorns, you're getting tomahawk'd this night!"He jumped off the roof. But little did he know, that the one he was hunting, was in fact the hunter.  
"That's what you think, wise guy!"She was following him closely behind...  
…Accessing Data Bank: Username – Thorns  
Data type: History  
"Fight, Fight, Fight!" Kids were gathered around in the school yard. They were forming a circle, and two boys were fighting in it. No...it was a boy and a girl.  
"C'mon Ralph, punch her! You can't lose to her!" One of the kids was cheering. Ralph aimed a fast punch on the girl but it was no use, with a quick deflection of the forearm, she had him pinned on the ground facedown.  
"Want to apologise now, wise guy?" She said into his ear whilst pushing his face into the dirt. "That'll teach you not to mess with me anymore!"  
She gave him one more push into the ground before getting up and walking away. Girls followed her cheering:  
"Yay Sarah, you did it! Now they won't even think about bullying us." A smaller girl cheered Sarah.  
Sarah was a tough girl, having grown up with only one parent, who could barely keep control on her. She fought boys every day, mostly because they had pissed her off or bullied a friend of hers.

"Honey, what's this i hear?" Her mom sighed as she got off the phone." The principal just called me. He said you bloodied Ralph's nose. Is that true?"  
"But mom, he took Hana's notebook and wouldn't give it back." Sarah defended herself. And she was right. Those boys stole her friend's handbook, and she had to get it back. "and it was only a little bloodied" she muttered to herself. "if he can pick himself back up and report me to the principle, then why am I in trouble?"  
"It doesn't matter how much it's bloodied!" Her mother sighed "Sarah Come here." She picked her up and hugged her." You're a lady. And ladies don't fight bullies. They know how to act, they have manners."  
"But mom, they just piss me off! And when i get angry i just...ugh!" Sarah got angry, trying to get out of her mom's hands.  
"But you should know better. You have perfect grades, and this kind of behavior doesn't suit a 12 year old schoolgirl. You act like you're 4."  
"I know, but..."  
"No buts. Now go do your homework. No going out for the week."

"Fine" Sarah groaned. There was no point arguing, it was the same every single time. Sarah wondered why she keeps letting the boys off so easily.  
Her mom set her off to her room, turning on the TV. She was flicking through different channels when she suddenly saw a commercial which could be the solution to her daughter's problems. It was a commercial for S4 League. She immediately got up and ran to the nearest store to buy a copy of that game.  
"Hello young man." She said to the store clerk." Do you sell a game called S4?"  
"You mean S4 League ma'am?" The clerk was surprised. "Why yes, but, why would a woman of your age be interested in games like that?"  
"Oh, it's not for me, it's for my 12 year old daughter." She laughed. "She has problems at school, mostly boys making her angry. So i thought if she blows her steam on games, she wouldn't get into trouble at school."  
"Well, aren't you the modern mom?" The clerk smiled, packing her a copy of S4."That'll be 10,45$ ma'am…would you like a bag with that?"  
"I'm okay, thank you." She took the game and brought it home.  
"Honey! I got a surprise for ya!" She showed her daughter the game.  
"What is it? A game? Mum, even you're treating me like a boy now!" Sarah said as she walked back up to her room, game in hand.  
"What is this? 'S4 League'? that new game the boys are always on about? Meh, mum and her ideas" Sarah dumped the game on her bed and thought nothing about it for the next hour…  
…one hour later…  
"Argh! I'm so bored! Why do I do things like that?" Sarah said to herself. A brightly coloured case caught her eye. "Hmmmm, I guess I'll give it a go…"  
In went the disc…  
…a shout jolted Sarah out of a trance:  
"Sarah, it's 11 already, go to sleep!"  
"Alright mum, just after this game!" she yelled back down the stairs, eyes glued to her computer. "Goddamit, why won't these people die? These semirifles are pathetic…next weapon! Counter sword…looks cool…"

She started playing the game and in 3 years she was one of the best, favoring double melee weapons and SMGs, and being too unpredictable to devise a strategy against. Her ferocity and rough attitude made many believe her to be a trap, mocking her until they regretted it…..  
And then the eSper City was announced. She got a beta code, but her mom was against it.  
"No, absolutely no! Giving you the game was one thing, but letting you go off to some far away city, no! That's final! You're too young!"  
"But mom, don't you want your daughter to be happy?" Sarah knew how to negotiate, but more importantly she knew her mom. "They're providing the food, lodging, everything! I'm even paid to do this! It's a win/win situation here!"  
After an hour of arguing and crying, her mom said yes. Sarah packed her bag and left. She lived practically next to an airport so it didn't take her long. Arriving 2 hours before the plane was supposed to leave, she had a lot of time on her hands and sat down. Sarah looked around, being bored and with nothing to do. No computers around, so no S4 League. And as she turned around she saw a mugger dressed in black hitting a woman and taking her bag.  
"Hey you! Give that back!" Sarah started running, and the man started running as well. He ran down the escalators, and started escaping her. But as he turned around going under the stairs, he was brought down to the floor by Sarah, who landed on his back after jumping from the stairs. Pinning his arm behind his back with a swift move, she took the bag and stood up, keeping him down with her foot. By now the woman had run over and a couple of guards had seen the trouble.  
"This is yours I think," Sarah said as she handed the bag back.  
"Thank you so much! It had everything in it…"the woman thanked Sarah."…is there anything I could do to thank you?" Sarah though for a whilst taking in the woman's rich cloths.  
"Well there is one thing…"  
And so she arrived at the city in style, having had her tickets upgraded to first class, but being one of the last to do so, because of the time difference. She adapted to this new way of fighting very quickly, being a brawler at heart, using people's expectations of a girl to her advantage. Sarah spent the next 2 years perfecting her fighting style, using only 1 gun and 2 swords.  
When the eSper challenge started, she was the sixth to get picked, but she knew that doesn't mean anything. She went running around town, using anchor to get around without being seen, as well as the rain that had started. She was tailing a potential target when the watch beeped and she saw her opponent, both on the screen, and in front of her. He wasn't aware, but she was looking at him. He then said:  
"Well Thorns, you're getting tomahawk'd this night!" He jumped off the roof, as Sarah went after him.  
"That's what you think, wise guy!" She was following him closely behind...


	7. Chapter 7

...She was tailing a potential target when the watch beeped and she saw her opponent, both on the screen, and in front of her. He wasn't aware, but she was looking at him. He then said:

"Well Thorns, you're getting tomahawk'd this night!" He jumped off the roof, as Sarah went after him.

"That's what you think, wise guy!" She was following him closely behind...

**Accessing Data Bank: ****Hatchet vs Thorns**

**Data type: Duel**

Sarah kept following Hatchet, making no sound at all. Then he suddenly stopped, and to avoid being spotted, Sarah hid behind a nearby wall. Without turning around, Hatchet simply took out his railgun, twisted it around, and without even looking, he pressed the trigger, shooting out a beam which turned a part of the wall into rubble.

"So you saw me wise guy?"She came out in plain sight.

"The name's Hatchet."Patrick turned around."It's a rainy night. I don't want to stay out for too long!"He took out his CS, jumping in the air and then anchoring to the ground behind Sarah. Sarah took out her own counter sword, moving back a few inches and getting prepared to counter Hatchet's attack. Hatchet then jumped up, and slamming into Sarah, which reacted fast enough, only to deflect his attack and to make him go back into the air. Neither Hatchet nor Sarah lost any health points.

"Agreed."She went propelled into the air, taking out her Plasma Sword, a high tech broadsword, capable of dealing great dammage. She then started spinning with the PS in her hands, causing her body to turn into a deadly wheel, moving forward at Hatchet. Hatchet knew he can't block this, or dodge in time, so instead he took out his Railgun, charging a blast, and releasing it right before Sarah hit him, causing an explosion which hurt both of them, taking out 22 HP from each, and causing them to fall on the ground. Hatchet got up, dustying off his clothes. Sarah sat on the ground instead, setting up her messy her.

"Ops. Gotta be more carefull"She got up.

Hatchet went running at her, jumping onto a building, and using his unique parkour skills, started moving through the wall like it was horizontal, not vertical. He then propelled into the air, and grabbing the blade of his CS, he jammed it downwards. Sarah dodged with ease, moving only to get out of reach. She then took out her SMG, inteding to shoot him while he was down. As Hatchet saw that, and with his blade jammed hard into the ground, he used it as a pole, turning around it with his body, dodging the bullets in the process, and tripping Sarah into the air. This move did no dammage. However, it gave Hatchet enough time to pull out his sword from the ground and block the next burst of bullets Sarah shot at him. Sarah, knowing he could uppercut her any time, anchored to a nearby building, riding the board downwards, by grabbing the board with one of her hands. She then propelled up from the building's surface, succesfully going on the roof. But as she turned around, she saw Hatchet heading towards her, having anchored at the same place she did while she was trying to escape him. In one quick move, she menaged to pull out her PS and to use it as a shield, succesfully blocking the attack. She got pushed back however, and Hatchet seemed to be overwhelming her.  
"How about you get a taste of your own medicine?"She smiled, crouching down, and using a similar move Hatchet previously used, she turned around and tried to trip him into the air. But Hatchet jumped up, avoiding this. Sarah smiled again, and switched to her CS, using the metal knuckle to block his CS, and the blade to stab him. But Hatchet menaged to use his own blade to knock her attack off target, making the blade end up in his leg, only taking 16 HP out of him. He then using the knuckle propelled into the air and anchored to a higher building. Sarah then started shooting, but didn't expect Hatchet to suddenly jump off the board, do a backward flip, and twist his body, facing her and shooting her with his railgun right in the stomach. Luckily, the shot wasn't charged, so it only took out 23 HP, and as several shots hit Hatchet, they were somewhat close in their HP. Sarah now had 65, and Hatchet 62 HP.

The rain drops kept falling down, dropping on their bodies. They were both soaked in water. Both looking in each others eyes, waiting for the other one to make a move. Eternity seemed to have passed, as they were standing still for mere 30 seconds. Suddenly Sarah jumped up and anchored to the building, pulling out her PS. Hatchet jumped off the building, starting to run on his surface. He then propelled into Sarah, trying to punch her. But Sarah used her sword to block this, and as she was still anchored, she pulled Hatchet with her, and they crashed into an appartment. Hatchet tumbled into the kitchen, losing 7 HP, and sarah went flying into a wall, slamming her PS into it to avoid being splattered. She tried to pull it out, but she couldn't, as it was jammed hard into the wall. Hatchet then walked out of the kitchen.

"Need help with that?"He threw a big kitchen knife into the wall, making it jam as well next to the sword.

"Nah I'm good."Sarah took out her CS and slammed it into the PS's handle. As the knife was jammed as well, using it as a support stone of sorts, the sword went flying at Hatchet. She went running after it, catching it in mid-air and swinging it down at Patrick. Patrick used his SMGs to block the attack. He then tried to move them left and right, and to get them into a position so he could shoot Sarah. He started shooting, but Sarah seemed to be dodging every single one of them. Hatchet couldn't fight like this, so he dashed out of Sarah's reach, and slammed a table into her. Sarah, using her PS, broke the incoming table in two as a bolt of lightning split the sky open behind Hatchet. The night just got worse.....


	8. Chapter 8

...Hatchet couldn't fight like this, so he dashed out of Sarah's reach, and slammed a table into her. Sarah, using her PS, broke the incoming table in two as a bolt of lightning split the sky open behind Hatchet. The night just got worse...

**Accessing Data Bank: ****Hatchet vs Thorns**

**Data type: Duel, part 2**

The sound of lightning striking metal echoed in the room. Chairs broken down, a table split in half, and a knife jammed into the wall. A drop of sweat went down Patrick's forehead. Sarah on the other hand, seemed to enjoy this. A smile spread on her face, indicating this.

"C'mon Hatchet!Let's fight!"She turned around, grabbing the knife by its handle, and sending it flying towards Patrick. Patrick dodged to the right, but as he straightened up, Sarah starting shooting at him with her SMG as she approached. Patrick dodged these bullets going into her, and switching to his CS and they crossed blades. Sarah swung with her CS, but not fast enough. Patrick had dodged, and rolled behind her. Switching to her PS, Sarah did a back flip, slamming her PS into Patrick's iron hand. She was now standing upside down, with her feet on the wall, and her sword as a support of sorts. Patrick tried to push upwards, but with gravity against him, and Sarah's considerably strength, he decided to change his plan. He moved backwards, letting Sarah fall down. But Sarah started spinning her body, doing a backwards pirouette, and landing on her feet. Patrick switched to his SMGs and started shooting at Sarah, but she dodged them with ease, switching to her only gun as well. But the guns were empty, so she decided to improvise. She went running at Patrick, swinging her right gun at him, and reloading the other gun with a master's skill. She spined her left gun as she changed the clip in the split of a second. Patrick had blocked the first swing, but Sarah forwarded another one, this time shooting as well.

The rain slowed down, and time was heading for a stop. Sarah's quick moves turn into slow motion attacks, her bullets going one after another, at a snails pace. Patrick moved his head slowly, dodging the attack, and swinging his SMGs at Sarah, pulling the trigger as they approached her torso. But Sarah used her left gun to knock Patrick's off balance, causing the fired bullets to go right of her body, ending in the nearby wall.

Suddenly both of them started moving faster. The rain picked up the pace as well, announcing that the time was flowing normally now. Both fighters mixed hand to hand fighting with guns, creating an incredible blend of gunshots and attacks. Patrick improvised with his empty guns, slamming them into Sarah's'. He then started pushing her, eventually into a wall. Sarah was now pined to a wall, but using this to her advantage, she dodged to the side, and switching to her PS she swinged at Patrick's neck, but hitting his CS's blade instead. Patrick pushed her PS back with his fist, swinging at her. Using her PS as a shield, Sarah managed to block his attack. She pushed him back a bit, and turned around for a whole circle, swinging her PS at Patrick. Reacting quickly, Patrick managed to use his CS arm as a shield, but the force of the impact was great. He wasn't harmed, but rather sent flying into a wall. He stepped on the wall's surface, and propelling into Sarah, who was standing before an open window. Sarah shifted her body, and now Patrick went flying through the window. But at the nick of time, he managed to turn around slightly, grabbing the wooden frame of the window. While in the air, he charged up his rail gun, shooting at Sarah as he re-entered the room. Sarah used her PS to block this, but was pushed back due to the force of the impact. Flying into the room, Patrick kicked her, hitting the PS with his feet. And from the momentum he gained, he managed to overwhelm Sarah, and was now standing on top of Sarah, using her PS as a stepping stone, and charging his Rail gun yet again. He then kicked into the air, causing Sarah to kneel a bit, and while mid-air, shooting at her PS again, this time causing her to break into the floor. As he back flipped and stepped on the ceiling, Patrick busted out his CS, propelling downwards and slamming into Sarah with full force. From the force of the impact she broke through the floor, falling into another living room. She lost 20 HP from the fall, and was now down to 45 HP, while Patrick was down to 58, having avoided most of the impact. He was now up on his feet, standing still and waiting for Sarah to get up as well. Sarah kicked into the air, back flipping and standing up.

"Now I'm pissed off!"She cursed at him, taking out her PS. And as Patrick was standing focused on her, he saw Sarah rushing at him with her PS in front of her as a shield. Patrick managed to dodge this however, causing Sarah to go right through a wall, making a big hole in it, and apparently falling down. Patrick approached the opening in the wall, only to see the end of an anchor going towards his head. He tilted his head for a mere centimeter, dodging this with ease. But Sarah was now flying into him, and at an incredible speed. Quickly he charged his rail gun, shooting as she was approaching. Sarah saw this coming, jumping upwards and shifting to her SMG as she started pouring bullets at Patrick's direction. Patrick quickly moved to avoid these bullets, moving right and left, and eventually jumping up at Sarah, switching to his CS in mid-air, and grabbing her by the waist, causing both of them to slam into a wall, with Sarah receiving most of the impact and going unconscious, and Patrick kick flipping back into the air, only to anchor to the building opposite of Sarah. She was now down to 21, and Patrick still had 58 HP left. He then started charging up his rail gun, waiting for her to come to her senses.

"What the..What happened?"She gained consciousness and looked around, only to see Patrick on the opposite wall.

"You just got tomahawk'd!"He shot his rail gun with deadly accuracy, turning her body down to green numbers."That's what happened!"Patrick walked away. The rain stopped, and his watch reverted to 100.


	9. Chapter 9

"C'mon, where are you?" a girl with a railgun in her hand was rushing through the streets, jumping to the buildings and running on the walls, then changing direction and going through alleys, only stopping to look around her.

"Where are you?" Her eyes got a metallic grey shade and green lines going towards the iris appeared.

"Found ya!" As she was looking, a red silhouette of a girl appeared in the distance.

"Gotta love this skill." She reloaded her railgun, causing a distinctive sound to be heard "Let's rock!" She jumped in the air…

…Accessing Data Bank- User name: Psycho

Data type: History…

"Aten-HUT!" A man dressed in military clothes yelled. All the man and women in front of him stood up straight and saluted him.

"You survived your 4 years of hard training, and finished Greece's best military school there is. You can now proudly call yourself soldiers! I salute you!" The man put up his hand saluting them back. All of them cheered and scattered off to celebrate this occasion.

"Private Helena! I want to have a word with you." The man called for a girl with pink hair who was just walking off. The girl turned around and approached him.

"I wanted to give you this." He gave her a letter with the army seal on it.

"The generals want to talk to you. If all goes well, I expect you to be a sergeant next year." He looked at her with a serious look, and then loosened up." How old are you girl?" He looked at the letter, and then at her.

"What…I mean, Sir, 21 Sir!" She got serious all of the sudden.

"Relax private, you're not under my supervision anymore." He laughed"21 you say? Impressive. Well, go! You don't want to keep the higher ups waiting do you?"

"Sir, no Sir. I mean, no sir." The girl smiled" She went to her room to get a good night's sleep and to pack her bags. In the morning, as she was heading towards the bus, Helena saw the sergeant yelling at some newly arrived students.

"Boy, where you from?" He shouted at a blonde kid.

"Solun Sir!" He shouted back.

"Solun you say? Well I know that only bulls and fags come from Solun." He walked around the boy"I don't see any horns on you, so it must be the other one." He shouted while standing before the boy. Helena laughed as she was boarding the train.

The next day Helena was sitting in a small room with 4 generals, each older then the other, and all angrier then the previous. They all had their eyes on her.

"We'll have to think about your application. We'll call you tomorrow. You may leave." The general with moustache said to her. She got up and left the room.

"We can't let a girl like her become a sergeant. It's unheard off!"

"I agree. Even though her resume is impressive, she's just too young!"

"So it's settled then? We tell her she's been rejected?"

"Hmph. I'll go take a walk." The fourth general got up and left the room. He caught up with Helena and asked her to talk to him.

"You know, the odds are against you. None of the other 3 generals want to accept you."

"So it's decided?"

"Well…"He touched her hand." I might be able to change their minds…"he looked at her chest." If you give me something in return, that is."

She slapped him, and used her other hand to knock him down on the floor.

"Get away from me you pervert!" She ran away. The next day she got a reply saying she's been denied from the position of sergeant. She was so angry at the generals.

"Fuck, they can't do this to me!" She started throwing things around, eventually trashing her apartment completely. Tears went dropping down her cheeks. The only thing left to destroy was the phone. She grabbed hold of it, when it rang. She answered it.

"Hello?"

"I know that they rejected you. I know all about it." A rough male voice spoke on the other end.

"Who are you? What do you want?"

"It's not what I want Psycho. It's what YOU want." The voice replied.

"Are you stalking me? Tell me who are you!" She yelled.

"It doesn't matter. All you need to know is that I can offer you revenge. Meet me by the pier tomorrow at 7 PM." The voice hung up, and the only thing that could be heard was the deadly silence in the apartment, and the beeping of the phone. Helena was now torn apart. She didn't know what to do next, and if she should go to the pier. She laid down on the trashed floor, and fell asleep.

Tomorrow she took a taxi to the pier, arriving 1 hour ahead, just in case. She sat down on a nearby bench, and looked at her watch. It was 6.05 PM. She waited for an hour, but no one came. When the clock ticked 7.01 PM she got up. Thinking this was just some cruel prank, she started walking away. But then the nearby payphone rang. She stopped.

"Should I pick it up?" She thought to herself. Suddenly she turned around and picked up the phone." Hello?"

"You're cautious I see." The voice said as Helena looked everywhere around her. "Don't worry, I'm not anywhere near you." She kept turning and a moment later, her eyes stopped on a camera pointed at her." Wave to the camera darling." The voice on the other part said." Look behind the payphone, you'll see a small box. Inside is a paper with the location of a sniper rifle, ammo, the location of Stolakis, the pervert who was hitting on you, a frag and a flash grenade. He'll be at that location in 3 days. I expect you to kill him." The voice was gone again, leaving behind a repetitive beep once more.

She dropped the phone, and looked for a box. After finding it, she took it with her back to her apartment.

"You're dead, motherfucker!" She thought to herself. The next day she went to the location, an empty container next to a beauty parlor, at the same address as it was written on the paper. She took the gun and ammo, and drove off to the small hotel where Stolakis was supposed to be. She had 2 days to scout out the place and to prepare herself. 2 days later, she was comfortably sitting on a chair, in the building opposite of the hotel. She looked through the sniper's scope as Stolakis and at least 2 dozen body guards arrived. She couldn't get a clear shot, as she anticipated. So she waited for Stolakis to enter the hotel, and then she pressed a button, causing the planted flash bomb to explode, sending an alarm off and attracting the attention of the body guards. Almost all of them entered the building, and Stolakis was now getting out of the hotel, with only 4 body guards. An easy target, just as she predicted. She took her aim and sent a bullet swirling through the nearby light post, shredding a part of the bullet, and the other part ending in Stolakis's guts, causing him to faint in pain.

"Let's see if you hit on me again!" She reloaded the gun, and shot another bullet, this one directly in his heart.

"Heh." She walked out of the hotel as all of the bodyguards were in panic. Dumping the ammo and sniper in a container, and went looking for a taxi. As she got in the taxi, she pressed a button on a small switch, causing the container to explode.

"Well done." The voice said on her cell phone." Want another one of them?"

"Who?" She asked as she was driving in a taxi.

"The one with the moustache. He's having a tour through the old history museum. A bunch of bodyguards, but it shouldn't be very hard." The voice was gone again.

"To the history museum please." She ordered the taxi driver. After arriving, she went looking around the museum, as she had no weapons at hand. Eventually, she went across and old revolver, left from WWI. Helena broke the glass and picked up the revolver. An alarm went off, so she had to be quick. With a thief's mastery, she walked out of the room and ran into the general. He didn't saw her, but Helena saw him. She looked at the revolver, and it had 2 bullets. Aiming with the first one, she took out the guard who was blocking her view, and with the other, she shot him in the throat, literally tearing his head off. She had her revenge, but the bodyguards saw her. She started running as the 4 bodyguards left went after her. She escaped them by a thread, hiding in her apartment. Her phone rang again.

"Now what do you want?"

"Hi Helena." A girl's voice could be heard.

"Who the hell…"

"An old friend. Say, I heard you like S4. Am I right?" The voice asked. Helena looked at her trashed computer.

"Yes, so what?" She answered frustrated.

"Well, I got an invitation for the eSper city, but I think you need it more then I do." A paper airplane went through the broken window, and into Helena's hands. She unfolded it to see an invitation card with the name Psycho on it.

"Hope I helped. See ya there!" The voice disappeared.

Helena took the code and took the first flight to the city. She changed her style of clothing, and hoped no one would know who she really was, or what she had done. After some time, when the eSper challenge was announced, her name was announced as well. By then she had become one of the best. Preferring long range, she was one of the few who used the gauss rifle. She went rushing through the streets, looking for the opponent on her watch.

"C'mon, where are ya?" She was running through the streets and walls, changing direction every few moments.

"Found ya!" She reloaded her railgun and jumped up on a nearby building…


	10. Chapter 10

"OK little sentry. Let's show that meanie what we can do!" A petite girl was talking…to a sentry? She was crouching behind a building as she petted her sentry, a small round robot the size of a chair.

"Ready?" The girl tilted her head awkwardly." Ok then, let's go!" She plucked the sentry from the ground, and with it in her arms, she started jumping to get to the roof of the building…

…Accessing Data Bank- User name: Mimki

Data type: History…

"Happy birthday little miss Ashcraft!" The family butler said to a little girl who was celebrating her 14th birthday.

"Thank you Winston. Now take me to the pool. Monika and Jessie are waiting me there." The little girl pointed to the door heading towards the pool in the balcony.

"Of course little miss." The butler crouched as the girl hopped on his back and then he ran off to the pool.

"Happy birthday Mimi!" Monika and Jessie shouted.

"Thank you, thank you." Mimi bowed to both." So, who wants to take a dip in the pool?"

"Me!"

"Me!" both Monika and Jessie replied as Mimi started running towards the pool. But before she could jump, she slipped and made a back flip as she splashed into the pool. Both girl laughed as Mimi came to the surface.

"It's not funny!" She got out of the pool.

"So Mimi, I heard your dad bought you a game your birthday! What's it called?"

"Oh oh, is it a Barbie game?" Monika cut in on Jessie.  
"Nah, it's not really like that. You know that game your brother plays Moni? S4 League I think."

"Yep." Monika nodded her head" I hate my brother!"

"Yeah, don't we all? Anyways, my dad says there's some city build for it and he's bought a large portion of the stocks for it. So I can play in there for free. I personally think I'll hate the game, but we won't know for sure until I try it out."

"You're so lucky. Maybe we'll come and play with you sometimes."

"Sure, I'd like that." Mimi smiled at both girls as her cell phone rang.

"Hey Mimi. I'm waiting for you at the air port. I'm going to eSper City, that city I told you about."

"Uhuh. So what?" Mimi got a confused look on her face.

"Well, you can come with me if you want to get a look at the place before the public does. But you have to hurry, because the plane is leaving soon."

"I don't know." Mimi turned to the girls." Dad wants me to go to this eSper City with him. Should I?"

"I say you should go! That way you can find out earlier if you like the game or not."

"Yeah, I agree with Jess."

"Ok. Daddy? I decided to come."

"Great!" Her dad replied as Mimi closed the phone.

"Ok then, off I go I guess." Mimi got up, and went to change her clothes. In 5 minutes she was back with Winston.

"Ok Winston, start the car. I'll be right there." Winston went into the pink limousine as Mimi stayed to say goodbye to the girls.

"Don't forget to bring us some souvenirs on your way back!" Monika shouted as Mimi entered the car.

"Off we go Winston!" She commanded the butler as he started the car.

They drove for 20 minutes before arriving to the air port. Her dad was waiting for her there.

"Daddy!" She hugged him, almost squeezing him.

"I'm so happy you could make it Mimi." The dad picked the small Mimi in the air and spun around for a couple of seconds before finally putting her down.

"Let's go. The plane is about to leave."

"What? We're not going with a private jet?"

"Well, this one IS private, but it has set times for leaving. It only goes to the eSper City."

"Oh, I see. Let's go then." She was jumping from joy as they entered the plane. There was nobody else in it, so Mimi could relax on 2 of the combined seats.

"The game is installed on these computers Mimi, so you can try it out."

"I don't know. Maybe, if I get bored enough." She waved with her hand as the dad fell asleep from exhaustion on another seat. Mimi looked at the computer, thinking nothing of it. But after 30 minutes, she got bored.

"Well, I might as well give it a try." She sat in front of the computer and registered for the game.

"Ooh, the ladies here are so pretty." She thought as she created a female character.

"And you can put on clothes too. This is as good as Barbie!" She thought as she bought some nice pink clothes." Ok, let's start." She got so hyped after seeing the clothes and the characters. She entered a private game, and played with some bots.

"Wow. This is so much fun. No wonder Moni's brother plays it all the time." She started swinging around with the big plasma sword, and got killed in the process.

"NOOO!" she screamed as her dad woke up.

"What, what? What's happening Mimi?" The dad jumped up from his seat and ran to Mimi almost instantly.

"Oh, sorry dad. It's nothing. I'm just playing S4. It's better then Barbie!"

"Yeah, I thought you might like it. You want to play a one on one with your daddy?"

"Sure. But, have you played it before?"

"Oh yes!" The dad gave out an evil look as if he's been playing S4 all his life.

They started the match, and the dad proved far better then Mimi was. The score in the first half was 26-3.

"Daddy, not fair. You're cheating! I know it!" Mimi started to rage as the dad smiled and replied.

"Ok, ok, you caught me. I cheated. We'll play fair now." He lied so that his little angel won't get sad. On the second half he practically didn't even play. She caught up to him. It was 27-27. So, he decided to let her win. He intentionally jumped in front of her and she ran over him with the PS like a train. The match was over. 27-28.

"Yay! I'm better then you dad!"

"Yeah, I guess you are. I'm going back to sleep now. Just keep it down a little ok?"

"Sure thing dad!" Mimi kept playing after her dad fell asleep on the seats again. She was playing for another 2 hours before falling asleep herself.

"Wake up honey, we're there!"

"Huh? What the…I fell asleep?" Mimi started gazing around her." Ok, I'm up now. Let's go." She stood up from her seat, and walked out of the plane clumsy and slow, being still half asleep and all.

"Wow." Mimi was caught surprised as she looked at the futuristically built city. It was enormous. She caught up with her dad and asked him if she could fight in here like she did in the game.

"Yeah you can. Let me just put this on." He gave her a watch.

"Another present daddy?"

"Yes and no. Every citizen of this city has to wear these."

"Why?"

"I don't know. I was said so." The dad scratched his head.

"Ok. Off I go then." She left her dad as she went dashing through the city streets. She was running so fast, even she couldn't believe it. Mimi went to the info board and looked for a tutorial on how to begin fighting. She saw that the watch was actually the start button for this city. It was used to start the game in here. She clicked it and saw a hologram of the same lady she saw in the game. She could choose weapons and clothes for her. She clicked the clothes she liked and they we're materialized on her.

"This IS better then Barbie!" She was jumping from joy as she chose her weapons and skill. A moment later, she was soaring through the sky with metallic wings on her back.

"I think I'm going to love this!" She went on dancing in the sky as her SP bar depleted and she went down plunging in the earth. She fell from 200 feet and didn't feel a thing.

"Wow." Mimi was astonished. She decided to stay in this city. She even called her friends over a lot. In the next 2 years they hanged out a lot, and always in the city. But Monika and Jessie didn't really stay there.

"Happy 16th birthday Mimi!"

"Thanks Daddy." Mimi hugged her dad.

"And as a present, I got you a place in the eSper challenge!"

"Wow. Thank you a lot daddy! I promise not to disappoint you!" She kissed him on the cheek. She trained really hard for the next few days. When the eSper City started she was hardly a pro, but still she was pretty good, and some even say at times she can even be better then some pros. Mimi thought this was luck, so she wished really hard that Lady Luck is with her on this tournament.

"Now little sentry, let's pray Lady Luck is with us in this fight." She touched her head against the sentry's and then got up.

"OK little sentry. Let's show that meanie what we can do!" Mimi said to the sentry

"Ready?" She tilted her head." Ok then, let's go!" She plucked the sentry from the ground, and with it in her arms, she started jumping to get to the roof of the building. And when she got there, she saw her opponent standing on a building in front of her, charging her rail.

"There she is! Let's go." She was running into an opponent with a charged railgun….


	11. Chapter 11

…"Ready?" She tilted her head." Ok then, let's go!" She plucked the sentry from the ground, and with it in her arms, she started jumping to get to the roof of the building. And when she got there, she saw her opponent standing on a building in front of her, charging her rail.

"There she is! Let's go." She was running into an opponent with a charged railgun….

…Accessing Data Bank- User name: Mimki and Psycho

Data type: Duel…

"Heh. This match is as good as over." She aimed her railgun into Mimi's head.

"Say bye-bye rich girl!" Psycho let go of the trigger at the running Mimi when…Mimi tripped over. She went plunging down between the two buildings, evading the deadly shot by a mere inch.

"Lucky bitch." Psycho used her detect skill and saw Mimi on the ground going back and forth. She charged her railgun again, and walked to the edge of the roof. But as she looked down, she saw a sentry flying at her, having been thrown by Mimi. The sentry hit Psycho on the head, causing her to lose 12 HP. Psycho quickly gained focus and blasted the sentry to pieces.

"You meanie!" Mimi was behind Psycho." I'll make you pay for that!" She took out her revolver and shot one bullet at Helena before rushing at her. Helena took out her revolver and immediately shot a counter attack, blocking each bullet with her own. She then took out her gauss rifle and started shooting one-bullet bursts at her. Mimi started dodging those shots by going left and right, but tripped and as she fell down, she shot her revolver, knocking the gauss in the air, and leaving Helena open. Helen jumped up and grabbed the gauss, going over to the other building. When she turned around, she saw a sentry in Mimi's place, which started shooting at her. She dodged the few shots with ease, hiding behind a big metal box.

"That lucky bitch!" Helena was talking to herself. She then got up and took out her railgun, charging it for a second, then coming out from behind the box and shooting it at the place where the sentry was. But she hit the ground. The sentry was no longer there. She saw Mimi's silhouette walking down on the street and she appeared to be carrying something.

"Not again, you won't!" She dropped down and circled around the building. She came from behind Mimi and charged her railgun. Mimi couldn't have seen her, but the sentry, because it was facing at Helena, started shooting at the exact time Helena shot the railgun, causing a massive explosion in between both girls.

"Thank you sentry!" Mimi hugged the sentry as she used her wings to go into the air and used the surface of the nearby building to propel herself forward, going above Helena's head.

"Bombs away!" She said as she threw the sentry she was carrying. But Helena quickly drew her revolver and shot the sentry to pieces, shooting another bullet who hit Mimi in the leg, causing her to lose 16 HP. She also fell down due to her SP being depleted, but she used that opportunity to take that out her PS and plunge downwards at Helena. Helena just waited for the right moment, and when Mimi was just an inch away from stabbing her, Helena shot her revolver at almost point blank. The knockback caused Mimi to fly backwards into a back flip, and ended up with her feet on the wall, hanging onto a window. This attack did no damage, but left Mimi open for attacks. Helena took out her gauss rifle and started shooting at Mimi, but the window she was holding onto broke apart, and luckily, she evaded that attack. Using her wings, she did a similar maneuver like before.

Propelling from the surface, she went into Helena, using her PS to slam into her. Helena dodged with ease, and shot her gauss at Mimi's back. But Mimi plunged her PS into the ground, and used it as an anchor to turn a 180 degree turn, evading the attack and then going over the PS to slam into Helena with her legs. With no other choice, Helena had blocked this attack with her gauss, making Mimi's leg hit the rifle. Mimi took this chance to use the rifle as a stepping stone, jumping in the air with her sword, and taking out her revolver, shooting Helena. Helena shot only one bullet to block the middle fragment of the revolver's bullet, and was unharmed. She then started shooting bursts with the gauss. Mimi took out the PS and blocked every single one by using it as a shield in front of it. Because of the bullets' trajectory, they all ended up in the blade. Using her wings, she soared upwards, going so high, that when Helena looked at her, she was blinded by the artificial sun that was on the ceilings of the City. Mimi used this opportunity to plunge down at Helena again, this time only missing because of Helena's detect skill. Helena saw her silhouette coming, and dodged just in time, hiding behind a van.

"That bitch…"She saw Mimi coming at her, ready to slam into the van with her PS. So she backed away for about 3 steps. And when Mimi slammed into the van, Helena ran forwards, jumping into the incoming van, and propelling into the air, shooting uncharged shots with her railgun. Mimi, instead of dodging, sprang her wings and went head on at Helen. She used her PS to block the some of the incoming attacks, but got shot in the arm, losing 14 HP. But she used her PS to ram into Helena, carrying her upwards with her wings. Helena lost 21 HP, but she knew she'd lose a lot more if she didn't do something. So she switched to her revolver and started shooting. Mimi started dodging and swinging with her PS. It was a battle of speed. Helena dodged a swing and used the chance to grab the blade with her hand and propel herself around Mimi, doing so to stay in the air and to get a chance to shoot her from behind. She pulled the trigger, but the moving wings took the impact Mimi, disappearing and letting both girls to fall down.

"Oh crap!"

"Oh shit!" Both girls swore. As they were falling Mimi swung her sword at Helena, and as she predicted, Helena grabbed the sword again to do the same thing. But this time, Mimi turned the sword so that Helena was now below her. Helena took a shot at Mimi, but she used the sword to deflect all incoming fragments. She then tried to stab Helena, by doing a forward hand motion, but Helena's legs were faster, catching the blade between her feet, and twisting her body so she was now above Mimi. She shot a bullet at Mimi, who tilted her head a mere inch, dodging the attack. Instead of trying to pull the sword out of her enemy's legs, Mimi turned her body around clutching onto Helena's head and twisting her body so Helena would hit the ground head-first. Helena saw that they're about to hit the ground, and in this position, she's sure to lose. So instead of struggling, she kicked off the sword and both of them ended up bursting into different buildings. Mimi used her PS to bust through the wall, and end up standing safely into a convenience store. Helena on the other hand, used her railgun to bust open a small hole, through which she barely made it through, ending up into one of eSper City's many swimming pools. Both of them got up and went to the walls they busted from. Helena kicked into the wrecked up wall, making a bigger hole, through which her entire wet body can be seen. She was soaked in water. Mimi couldn't help but laugh, but she wasn't looking good either. Her glasses were broken, and without them she couldn't see as good.

"This can't be good. My glasses!" She immediately ran through the store, looking for glasses. Luckily, she ran into an abandoned optician store. As good as her vision was, she could read the sign saying "Optician". She rushed into the store, trying all kinds of glasses. Finally, after trying a dozen of special glasses, she found the one she needed. She rushed back to the crack almost instantly, and looked at Helena.

"You Psycho! You broke my glasses!"

"So? I'll do it again!"

"No you won't…"Suddenly Mimi's expression changed. Her face was now different, focused. She looked at Helena with blood thirsty eyes. This was a completely different persona." You're going to die!" This new person jumped upwards, wrecking an even bigger hole in the wall.

"You aren't Mimki are ya?" Helena smiled.

"No. I'm Spica, Shadow Spica! And these are the last words you'll ever hear!"….


	12. Chapter 12

"You're going to die!" This new person jumped upwards, wrecking an even bigger hole in the wall.

"You aren't that little girl are ya?" Helena smiled.

"No... I'm Shadow Spica! And these are the last words you'll ever hear!"….

Accessing Data Bank- User name: Mimki and Psycho

Data type: Duel, part 2

Helena was joyful in a way, because now she could really fight. No more lucky shots, no more of that stupid little "daddy's girl". This was now a whole new opponent. And she liked that. She started running next to the wall, and Spica jumped on the outer wall and ran on it. Both of them were inches away from one another, and both of them knew that. Spica kept shooting her revolver, blasting small chunks inside the building, while Helena just kept dodging and charging up her railgun. When they neared the edge of the building, Spica took out her PS, and slammed the edge of the wall, making a hole in it, and springing her wings, going into the air only to find Psycho's railgun pointed at her. Helena released a deadly beam from the railgun, and just as she thought, Spica dodged it with ease. This was a whole new way of fighting. But she didn't mind that, as long as she enjoyed the fight. She took out her revolver and shot once at Spica. Using her own revolver, Spica shot that very familiar move, deflecting each bullet fragment with one of her own. Helena now tried a different tactics, and turned her weapon to the side for about 45 degrees, and shooting it again, and this time, the bullets went past Spica's defensive move, only to hit her wings, which she bent in front of her as a shield. This was a perfect defense, able to absorb any attack once, but it had a fatal flaw. Spica couldn't see a thing now, with the wings blocking her vision. So Helena used this, jumping upwards at her, and kicking her in the wings, causing her to drift backwards in the air, and bouncing back on the wall, this time higher, so she grabbed on the roof, and took out her gauss rifle. She shot it with only one hand, but managed to hit Spica again, causing her wings to disappear and hitting her with one gauss bullet, doing 14 damage, and making her fall down. But as Spica was falling, she managed to dish out one bullet, which broke off the piece of roof Helena was holding onto, and now both of them we're falling down. Spica landed on the ground, and Helena managed to land on the surface on the wall, running downwards at Spica. Spica used this to jump at Helena with her PS, jamming it right below her, and using it as an anchor to move around it and hit Helena with her legs. Helena blocked this with her gauss rifle, but got pushed into the air and in the open. Spica took out her revolver and shot once, with the bullet heading deadly into Helena's head. Helena dodged in the last moment, by doing a back flip and landing on a light post. The light post bended a little however, and Helena used this to create a momentum, and when the light post went back into position, Helena was shot forwards at Spica. Spica did a similar maneuver though, using her PS in a similar way and heading towards Helena. As they we're about to hit each other, both of them took out their revolvers and exchanged a few shots, each of them dodged by both opponents. And now Spica was landing on the light post, and Helena on the PS. The same thing happened again, only this time, Helena grabbed Spica on the arm in mid-air, and shot her own revolver at point blank, nearly killing Spica, if she hadn't dodged by turning her head to the right, and using her free arm to punch Helena in the stomach, taking out only 2 HP, but creating an opening to kick her into the light post, this time dealing 4 damage, and landing on her own PS, only to grab it, and kick off the wall again, and into Helena, which was holding onto the light post. Helena managed to stand up on the light post, and jump upwards, just as Spica was diving into her with her PS in front of her. Spica missed, and Helena used this chance to shoot her gauss rifle yet again at Spica. Using her wings, Spica managed to shield her head, but got shot in the hand in which she held the PS, losing 10 HP. Spica burst upwards, heading towards Helena, and just as Helena took out her revolver to shoot the open Spica, she saw that all the barrels are empty, and that the revolver need to be reloaded. This was a blessing in disguise however, as when Spica lunged into her with the PS, she used the space between the barrel and then gun to capture the PS in a trap, spinning the barrel to both move the PS out of target, and to quickly put in another 7 bullets in the barrel. She closed it just as Spica rammed into her, again taking her upwards into the air with her wings. Only this time, Spica took out her revolver, and both shot at each other until Spica's revolver got empty, as she hadn't reloaded it yet. And just as Helena shot at Spica, Spica used her wings yet again as a shield, taking the impact for her, only for them to disappear, and both girls started falling again. Kicking off of each other, both landed on the roofs of the buildings they previously had broken into. Spica used this opportunity to reload her revolver, as Helena took out her railgun, shooting out a couple of uncharged shots, making several holes in the roof, but not hitting Spica, as she dodged the shots with ease. She shot with her revolver once, and had only 1 bullet left. She then changed to her gauss rifle. Spica had now reloaded her revolver, so both of them starting moving in the same direction, jumping from one building to the other, shooting at each other in the process. And every time Spica would shoot at Helena, Helena could only shoot the middle bullet with one of her own, leaving no room for attacking, but she saw her chance, when Spica's revolver ran empty. She shot at her, but again Spica dodged with ease. With no room for failure, Helena wondered how she could beat this opponent, with Spica dodging every single one of the bullets directed at her. She dropped on the ground, and reloaded her gauss even though the rifle wasn't empty. She used her detection skill to see through the walls and catch Spica approaching her. She went walking around the building, trying to catch her from behind. She went running up the walls and approached Spica just as she was searching for her. She charged her railgun for a blast, but Spica's ears caught the sound of the charging gun, and she turned around, shooting her revolver, and breaking off the surface Helena was running on, and causing her to lose balance, and fall down, shooting the beam into the air in the process. She did a back flip, landing safely on the ground, only to find a bullet heading into her, and dodging only the middle one, getting hit in both her leg, and shoulder. She got kicked back from the force of the impact, and lost 23 HP in the process. She took her revolver, but after remembering it only had one bullet, she decided to save it. She took her gauss rifle, now fully reloaded, and started shooting as she approached Spica. Spica also started running towards Helena, shooting only a few bullets in the process, and with only 3 shots left in her revolver. Helena started running on the wall, jumping above Spica, and just as Helena was above her face, she shot her revolver, and Helena shot her gauss as well, only to block the middle fragment of the bullet, and the other three went on, one going next to her left ear, one next to her right, and one just above her head, missing her brain by mere centimeters. As she landed behind Spica, she shot her gauss rifle twice continuously, and with the rising of the bullets, she shot Spica once in the back and once in the arm, causing her to lose 34 HP. Spica turned around and was now face to face with Helena. Helena took out her revolver, as she knew that this was the right moment. She looked at Spica's blood thirsty eyes, just as Spica said:

"Give up! I can see light through the barrels in your gun. You only have 1 left, and we both know I have 2 bullets. At this distance…..you know you're going to lose!"

Helena only smiled. Yes, this was the right moment to use the move, the technique, only the best revolver users know and practice. She smiled as she spun the barrel of her revolver so fast it went round like a turbine, spinning at more then 300 RPM. This was the Russian roulette of revolver users. With a high chance of missing, and an even higher chance of failing to execute the move, she put everything on the line of this one attack, this one press of a trigger. She closed her eyes, saying:

"I know……."She opened her eyes. "…You're going to burn!" She pressed the trigger at almost the exact moment as Spica pressed the trigger twice, and sending two bullets, which split into 8 fragments, 4 fragments only a millimeter behind the other 4. But, now was the time. Helena's bullet came out just like any ordinary revolver bullet. Only hers didn't break off into fragments, only splitting for a mere second. But because of the high rotation speed of the bullet, the fragments went back into place, and burst through Spica's 2 middle fragments, piercing her brain. Causing her to drop the revolver, just as the other fragments missed Helena's body. She turned to green numbers, and Helena blew the smoke off her gun, turning around and sitting on a nearby bench, just as her watch reset.  
And as this battle was over, a man was sitting in a monitor room, all the walls covered in screens, each showing all of the battles that we're going on. He turned every one of them off, only leaving the one showing Spica losing to Helena.

"You disappointed me Beta. For the first..."He shut that one down as well. "And the last time…"


	13. Chapter 13

Dressed in a red coat, his white hair falling down his face, his plasma sword on his back, and both his guns in his hands, the man walked down the dark alley. It was the middle of the night, and he was alone in the dark. Well, almost alone.

"So….you're Dante?" A guy wearing a pirate outfit, and with 2 dragon tattoos on his shoulders came out of the dark.

"At your service, kid." The man bowed down….

…Accessing Data Bank- User name: Dante

Data type: History…

"One strawberry sundae barkeep!" The man in a red coat was sitting on the bar chair, with his legs high up on the bar.

"No more for you Dante. You still haven't paid your bill. I need money you know." The bartender was cleaning up the bar table, and went past Dante's legs, soaking both his feet wet. "And legs off the table!"

"Relax…"He laid back on his chair. "I've got this client. After this job is wrapped up, I'll have your money."

"Yeah, you keep saying that…"The bartender's face darkened.

"Well, I'll be off now! The pizza delivery guy should be there by now." He got up and left, leaving 2 coins on the bar table. He got to his office, or so he called an old shack buried in a back alley. It was completely trashed, and about to fall down. He was a detective, and a very good one at it. The only problem was, he kept spending all the money he got from cases to the state, or his lawyer. For breaking public property that is. He was broke, but didn't seem to mind it, living life to its fullest. He looked around the dusty old room, seeing nothing but a desk, a computer on it, a table and a phone on it, one chair and an old antique sword on the wall, with 2 antique guns. He was somewhat a collector of these things. He looked at the desk filled with files from old cases, and sat down on his computer reviewing his files, when he looked at his only game on his desktop. It was S4 League. He hasn't played it for so long, being too busy with his work. So he logged in, and much to his surprise, he'd been invited to the eSper City closed beta. The key was about to arrive that week. But as he wasn't up to speed with current events, he just closed that pop up and started playing. He fought for several hours before the phone rang. With one masterful move, he span the chair with him in it, going to the phone, answering it, and sitting back before his keyboard.

"Dante here, at your service!" He said as he managed to kill one more enemy before the game ended. The person who spoke on the other side of the line was the client he was expecting. A man, his kid ran away.

"Yeah, yeah. I got it." He wrote down on a piece of paper as he exited the game. "So the kid mentioned this eSper City, you say?" He remembered about that pop up. He wrote it down on the piece of paper. "Eh, I'll see what I can do. Now, about the payment, I think we should talk after I get the boy."He slammed the phone. Dante relaxed his body, laying back on his chair, and putting his legs up on his desk, slamming them on the keyboard in the process, and covering his face with an old file. As he was still waiting for his pizza, the door bell rang. But it wasn't the pizza delivery man. It was a sexy lady with dark glasses, wearing a long sleeve shirt and a skirt, with a gun on the side.

"The bathroom's outside in the little shack lady." He answered without even looking at her.

"How did you know I'm a lady?" She asked in a seductive manner.

"The gun keeps hitting your butt." He pointed at the gun she was wearing.

"Well, I'm not here for the bathroom." She said, taking the piece of paper covering his face, and throwing it on the floor. "I want to talk to you about that call you just received."

"You a friend of the client?" He asked, turning around to face her, and looking right at her breasts, his eyes widened as she was a bent over him. She backed away a little smiling.

"No. But my client is associated with the eSper City, and doesn't want any rookie detectives meddling around his city." Upon this statement, Dante got up.

"Listen Lady, I don't know what your business is, but I need those money. And just so you know, I was invited for the city too!" he grabbed her on the shoulder as she was heading towards the door.

"I know that. But I just don't want you putting your little nose where it doesn't belong." She touched his nose gently with her finger, smiling.

"Well, I still need the money." He backed away as the door bell rang, and he went and answered the door. Taking the pizza and walking to the table, he turned to the lady.

"Hey lady. You mind paying for that?"

"Well aren't you the gentlemen?" She smiled, handing over a bunch of money to the pizza delivery guy. "Well, I guess I'll see you in the city then?" She handed over the code to Dante, walking away, only turning around for a moment and saying:

"And the name's Marina by the way." She got on a motorcycle, driving off, and leaving Dante alone in his office.

"Well goodbye to you too, Lady." He grabbed a piece of the pepperoni pizza and took a bite of it.

The next day, after realizing he has no choice but to go to the eSper city, Dante packed his bags, locked his office up, and went to the airport. The first flight to the eSper city was just about to take flight, so he didn't have to wait. He put his bag in the baggage area and took a seat. It was a long flight, so he simply ordered one strawberry sundae, and took a long nap. He was awaken by a voice, however, a voice saying they have arrived to the city. He got up and went looking for a boy he had a picture of. His search was over real quick, as he saw the boy getting off the same plane he was in. If he had paid more attention, he would've seen the boy sitting right behind him. But all of that didn't matter, as they had just entered the city, and everyone grabbed their weapons at the first moment and rushed off to the special domes build for fighting. The boy was the very first that started a game, and so Dante followed him. They we're in the famous Needen-1 dome. A dome modeled by the most played map in S4. So he looked at the boy from a far, observing him. When he had the chance, he approached him.

"Kid, your dad is looking for you." The kid turned around.

"Who the hell are you? And what the hell do you want?"

"Easy kid, your dad sent me to get you home."

"Like I care. I told him already, and I'm not going to explain myself to ya." He jumped up and headed running through the roof, but he was soon stopped in place as a chain wrapped around his lower half, completely disabling him to move.

"I'm just doing my job kid." The chain was gone and the kid went rushing into Dante.

"How about I do MY job and slam your face through the roof?" He swung his CS at Dante, but Dante dodged with ease, taking out his PS.

"Tell you what kid. You beat me, I let you go. If I beat you, you have to come home."

"Sounds fair. Heh." The kid smirked as he started swinging his counter sword at Dante. It was a long battle, and at the end, they we're both down to 10 HP.

"Give up kid." Dante talked with a smile on his face, even though he was breathing heavily. As this was his very first battle, it was sort of tiring for him. "I might even stay in here. I like this place." He looked around. "C'mon." He taunted the kid like he was a dog.

"Are you taunting me old man?" The kid set up his hair. "Don't you know who I am?"

"All I know is your first name. Says right here." Dante looked on the back of the picture of the boy. "Says Cristo." He put the picture back into his pocket.

"That's Cristo Montela. The Kolosos!" The kid shouted, dashing at him, and they exchanged 1 final blow. In the end, Cristo ended up calling his dad to tell him his ok. Dante did his last job, and decided to stay. He and the kid hanged out some times, fighting, even becoming rivals of sorts.

After 2 years, the time of the eSper challenge arrived. Dante was in one of the few bars in the city when his name was picked. But he decided to stay in the bar, even though everyone except him had to leave and go into the special buildings. He drank a couple more drinks, and when the night came he decided to go look for his opponent.

He was walking down the dark alley. It was the middle of the night, and Dante was all alone, with his rival appearing in front of him.

"So….You're Dante?" A guy wearing a pirate outfit, and with 2 dragon tattoos on his shoulders came out of the dark.

"At your service, kid." Dante bowed down…


	14. Chapter 14

He was standing in the shadows, waiting for his opponent. Holding a black plasma sword with dragons on it, and a matching pair on his shoulders, he waited patiently. And when the one in a red coat was near, he came out.

"So, you're Dante?" He walked in front of him.

"At your service kid." The man replied…

…Accessing Data Bank- User name: The Regulator

Data type: History…

He was standing in his grand father's dojo. Alone in the early moments of the day, just as the sun was rising. With a katana in his hand, he practiced tirelessly. One swing after another, one blow following another. It was his cause in life. Practicing every free moment he had, he devoted himself to perfecting his use of the katana, an ancient weapon that no longer held use in the modern age of gunpowder and technology. But he didn't care. Ever since he was a baby, he was interested in the ancient fighting arts. Martial arts, katana usage, even the way of the samurai.

And before he did another swing, he was interrupted.

"Darion, breakfast is ready." A woman entered the dojo. It was his mother.

"Mother, can't you see I'm practicing?"

"Oh, will you drop that big knife for a moment. You have to eat you know?" She walked up to him and grabbed him on the shoulder.

"But I'm practicing!"

"Just stop that Darion. Between games and school and this passion of yours towards swords, there's hardly ever room for me." Both of them sat down on the ground. "We never talk nowadays. So come on, the maids served the meal. Let's go have breakfast and talk." Both Darion and his mother got up and walked into the other house, sitting on the dinning table.

"So mother, what did you want to talk to me about?" His table manners were perfect, as it was expected of him, mostly because he came from a noble family.

"Well, anything Darion. Middle School is over for you. In what High School do you plan on going?" She looked at him. "Your father and I were thinking of Prins…" Darion cut her off.

"I'm not going to High School mother. Just yesterday I received an invitation for the closed beta phase of the eSper City." Even though he was from an aristocratic lineage, that noble accent was gone in his voice. "I plan on leaving in two days mother." His mother got up from her chair, furious.

"What is the meaning of this?!" She shouted. "There is no way. Absolutely no way I'm letting you go!"

"I spoke with father. He allows me to go mother. And I already told you about the possibility of this." Darion remained calm, simply cutting his meal whilst talking to his mother.

"A possibility, yes. But I don't want you leaving, Darion. I don't want you forsaking your future for some….game!" She raised her voice even more.

"There's no reason for shouting mother. Please, I will leave. I just want your approval before I do so."

"No!" She left the dinning table, leaving Darion alone in the room.

"Fine, if that is her wish." Darion got up. "Now I have to go practice." He walked slowly to the dojo, taking his katana in his arms, and sitting before a monument.

"Help me on my quest grandfather." He bowed down, and started practicing. His skills with a sword were indeed impressive, but he knew he had to train as hard as he could, be as good as he could, because in the eSper City, every move he had learned would have to be used to its fullest if he wants to be the best. He trained the entire day, only taking breaks for lunch and dinner. As he went to sleep, his mother entered the room. She was watching over him, sighing as she saw her baby all grown up. He was only 16, and yet he had that same commanding attitude he and his father shared. She knew there is no way she could change his mind, so instead of trying hopelessly to stop him, she decided to give her blessing to him. She neared him, kissing him on the cheek, and walking away.

In the morning, when he first woke up, he felt his mother's kiss on his cheek, and knew she had changed her mind. So he got up, changed his clothes, and went to the dojo to train. There his mother welcomed him with a hug.

"I know mother, and I thank you for that." He said as she looked him in the eyes.

"You're the same as your father, Darion. Once he set his mind on something, there was nothing stopping him. So I decided to let you go." She turned around, walking away as a tear dropped on her face. With a smile on his face, Darion took his katana in hand, and swung around as hard as he could, practicing blows for some time, before he started doing push ups and crunches. And when the night came, he decided to honor his grandfather's monument, by tattooing one dragon on each shoulder. Both dragons were starting from his neck, and ending with their heads around his biceps area. And they were truly remarkable, giving his bulky arms and even stronger look. That night he decided to meditate under the full moon, and he did so for the entire night. And when the dawn came, he walked out of his home with nothing more then his katana as a memento, and a bag of clothes.

He had to take two planes to get to the city, as the airport near him didn't have a plane leading to the eSper city. And when he got there, the first thing he did was set up his katana in the room they gave him, to remind him of his old home. Immediately he signed up for a sword only match, and as he had expected, all the hours spent in training gave him an edge - one that separated him from the others in so many ways. He was the first in every sword match, and not just that. In the beginning he had almost no deaths in any match. As time went on, people caught up, but he was still one of the best with his plasma sword. What separated him from the others however, wasn't his skill, but rather his attitude. That higher-then-life attitude that made him so unique. Everyone who have ever fought him one on one knew this. They all admit his skill, and his noble way of fighting, always fighting fair, always helping his team. That was one mayor reason he got chosen for the eSper Challenge.

That night, he was alone in his room, meditating in front of his katana. He remembered his last moments he shared with his grandfather, the one that introduced the way of the samurai to him. A similar night, with the full moon high up in the sky. Burglars wanted to attack their home, and there was no one home except for Darion and his grandpa. His grandpa defended him with his katana until his last breath. He cut down every single one of them with his katana. All but one, that is. A coward who shot him with a gun instead of fighting like a man. But as his grandpa died, he used his dying breath to stab the gunman, defending his home, but at a cost. He died in front of Darion's eyes, leaving him the katana as a memento. That is the biggest reason Darion practiced with that katana for as long as he can remember. The dragon that was on his katana, his plasma sword, his guns and as a tattoo on his shoulders. It was because he, along with his grandfather, was born in that sign. The two dragons meant something. The smaller was him, and the larger was in honor of his grandpa. Darion bowed down, lighting a candle as he jumped out of the window in search of his opponent. He didn't have to search long, as he saw the man whose picture was on his watch walking down the street. He hid himself in the darkness, waiting until he got closer. And then, he came out.

"So, you're Dante?" Darion asked.

"At your service kid." The man replied.

Darion took up his plasma sword, holding it in a unique stance, just as one would hold a katana. This battle was in honor of his grandfather…


	15. Chapter 15

…"So, you're Dante?" Darion asked.

"At your service kid." The man replied.

Darion took up his plasma sword, holding it in a unique stance, just as one would hold a katana. And Dante simply smiled, saying:

"C'mon!"…

…Accessing Data Bank- User name: Dante vs The Regulator

Data type: Duel…

Darion made the first move, rushing at Dante as he carried his plasma sword with one hand, the ending of it even scratching on the surface. He made an upwards swing at his opponent, but Dante evaded it. Darion then did a swift round turn, attacking Dante from the side. Dante blocked with his sword, but at that exact moment, Darion moved his leg, sweeping the ground in an attempt to throw Dante off balance. This was of no use, however, as Dante jumped up, not only evading the attack, but using his position to maneuver his body, letting go his sword, and delivering a downwards kick at the crouching Darion. Darion let go of his sword as well, doing so in an attempt to block Dante's attack. Now both weapons were in the air, and in a quick move, Dante kicked off of Darion's arms, and taking his black plasma sword in the process. Darion in turn grabbed Dante's sword. So now Dante was several feet away from him, and in possession of his sword.

"I believe this is yours?" He looked at the sword, as if he was examining it.

"Give it back to me!" Darion's temper was beginning to show up. That sword was another thing dear to him.

"Sure thing, kid." He threw it back at Darion. Darion threw Dante's sword at him, to return the favor.

"Let's continue!" Darion said as he jumped up, and held his sword straight down at Dante as he was falling down. "Dragon fire ball!" He shouted as the momentum he gained was enough to push the blocking Dante back, but not dealing any damage. Dante swung his sword forwards, pushing Darion off of him, and creating a distance between them, but this time a much smaller one.

"Heh." He smirked, walking back and forth and rubbing his nose with his left hand, and holding his sword in his right. "I've never met a kid who names his moves." He taunted Darion.

"I do so out of honor." Darion looked at the, now still, Dante. "But I wouldn't expect you to know anything about honor."

"Honor to whom, kid? And I name stuff too, for your info." He showed off his sword. "This is my dear Revolution." He set it on the ground, making it spin in the process.

"Enough! Let's go!" Darion attacked again, but was stopped just as he started running. Stopped by a chain wrapped around his legs.

"Easy kid. Do you really take stuff that personal?" Dante laughed in the kid's face. But Darion swung his sword, barely hitting Dante. "Ok, then. If you wanna fight…" He threw his sword towards Darion. Darion dodged the attack by a millimeter by bending his body to the side, and turning his head to the side, looking at the sword and seeing it jam into the wall behind him. And when he straightened up, Dante was gone. The chains binding him were now gone, and he turned around only to see Dante sitting on his own sword jammed in the wall.

"Whoa…"He flapped around with his hand around. "It smells like piss in here…" He laughed. "What did you do while you were waiting for me, kid?" He got down from his sword, taking it out of the wall, all the while Darion's eyes were pointed at him.

"You talk too much old man!" He pointed his sword at Dante.

"Ok then kid, soothe yourself." He took out his twin SMGs, shooting a barrage of bullets. A total of 12 bullets went flying at Darion, but he intercepted every single one of them, catching them in mid air as he swung his sword, and then straightening his blade to show all 12 bullets one after another on the long sword. He then shifted his sword downwards, making every bullet drop on the ground. But as he did so, Dante rushed at him, almost in his face, and hitting every bullet off the ground, and into Darion's torso. He lost 36 HP, and went flying into the air from the impact. He landed on the wall of a building, barely holding onto a window. The hole on his chest regenerated, and moments later, he jumped at Dante, changing to his handgun, and unleashing a rain of bullets down at his opponent. This unpredictable attack caught Dante off guard, but it wasn't nearly enough to make him lose his focus. Even though he got hit by three bullets as he was dodging, he managed to get out of sight, only losing 13 HP. When Darion landed on the ground, he turned quickly around to see if Dante used the same move again, appearing from behind. But that didn't happen this time, as there was no one around him.

"Heh, nice little gun you got there, kid." Dante was sitting on the nearby roof, looking at Darion. He then jumped straight above Darion, flipping, so he was upside down in mid air, and then he pressed the trigger on his guns just as he started spinning in the air. The result was a concentrated barrage of bullets going down at Darion. With no exit, Darion jumped up, shooting only the bullets that were straight into him. He managed to stay unharmed and even hit Dante, as they collided in mid-air, with Darion grabbing onto one of Dante's SMGs, and using his handgun to knock off the other one off-target. They we're fighting in the air, each struggling to land a bullet in the opponent. And when they were about to hit the ground, Dante used his strength to land with Darion beneath him, clutching him on the ground. He then used his SMGs to blast Darion's head, but failed to do so, as Darion kicked him in the back, throwing him off, and getting up to fire off several bullets from his handgun. This attack wasn't successful either, as Dante saw the bullets and dodged them with ease by turning his body so that the bullets won't hit him. Now both Darion's handgun and Dante's SMGs were empty. So Dante switched to his sword, thinking Darion would do the same. That didn't happen, however, as Darion took out his own pair of two blue SMGs, with grey dragon decals on the sides, starting to shoot at the oncoming Dante. But this wasn't enough, as Dante grabbed his sword with his right arm, and jumping on the wall, he propelled into the air, going downwards at Darion in a similar manner as Darion's dragon fireball attack. Darion moved backwards, dodging the attack, and continuing to shoot at Dante. But Dante dodged this barrage of bullets as well, going with his sword in a zigzag pattern, and then swinging at Darion. His attack was blocked by Darion's SMGs, but due to Dante's raw power, Darion was knocked back, only by a couple of inches. Now his SMGs were empty as well, so Darion switched to his sword, clashing it against Dante's. They fought with their swords chest to chest, unleashing powerful moves at close range. At one moment Darion's swing was so fast and powerful, that when Dante evaded it, the light post he hit, was cut down like a piece of butter. And as Dante backed away a little, Darion jumped up, kicking the cut down light post at his opponent, but Dante intercepted it, proving yet one more time his raw power. With a single slash, he managed to cut the metal pole in half, evading any damage that would've been done if the light post had hit him. But as the pole separated, going right and left of him, Darion was heading towards Dante, and as Dante's sword was jammed in the ground from the previous slash, Dante couldn't block. So instead, he moved right, evading the attack, and taking out his sword just in time to block Darion's second attack as Darion turned around to deliver another horizontal slash towards Dante. Now both their blades were yet again clashed against each other. Now both Darion and Dante did several steps to the side, each of them standing with their backs almost on the wall. To overpower Dante, Darion stepped on the wall, putting all his pressure on Dante, but his opponent did the same. Dante stepped on the wall behind him, and now both of them were fighting with their feet on the wall instead of the ground. Then they both started moving upwards, almost running up on the wall. Their clashed swords allowed them to keep moving upwards, and as they neared the edge, they jumped up, turning around in a circle, and clashing again. They started swinging with all their force, and in one moment, the force was so incredible, that both fighters were kicked off, ending on the opposite buildings.

They looked at each other as the full moon was glowing in the distance.

The night just got longer…


	16. Chapter 16

They started swinging with all their force, and in one moment, the force was so incredible, that both fighters were kicked off, ending on the opposite buildings.

They looked at each other as the full moon was glowing in the distance.

The night just got longer…

Accessing Data Bank- User name: Dante vs The Regulator

Data type: Duel, part 2

Dante was smiling. This was his kind of fight, one under the moonlight. He got a serious look on his face as both Darion and he started running towards the edge, jumping at each other with their swords in front of them, aiming for the other man's heart. But in a twist of fate, a smile spread on his face, and Dante turned around, smacking Darion on the back of his head, and landing on the other roof.

"Is this what fighting represents for you Dante?!" Darion turned around, angry at his opponent. "All laughs and jokes? You're making a fool of yourself?" he pointed his sword at Dante.

"You're making a fool of yourself!" Dante mimicked Darion, and indeed he was making a fool, but not of himself, but of Darion. "But fine. You obviously can't take a joke, kid!" He pulled out his guns, aiming them at Darion. Darion switched to his SMGs as well.

"C'mon!" Dante started running to the edge of the roof, not towards Darion, but to the edge on the right of him. Darion followed, and both of them started running down the building, shooting at each other simultaneously. As they approached the ground, both propelled from the ground, and into each other. Dante went for the laughs again, turning around like before, and about to hit Darion on the back of the head, when his hand was intercepted by Darion's handgun, blowing him away, and tearing a piece of his arm in the process. Dante went flying away, and as his hand healed, his watch showed a loss of 18 HP. Darion let his opponent know that he won't be fooled a second time. As Dante landed on the ground, Darion started shooting again. And with his SMGs empty, he turned to a different defense method. He let out a chain, but instead of aiming it at his opponent, he grabbed the end of it, and started swinging him around, blocking every incoming bullet in the process. Using his chain as a whip, he swung at Darion, but Darion dodged this and the chain disappeared. Dante took out his sword, letting out another chain at the exact moment. Darion dodged this as well, but it wrapped around the light post behind him, and Dante used this opportunity. Twisting his ankle, he sent a circle of sorts, trapping Darion. Using both of his hands, he then pulled with all his might, taking Darion and the land post at him, and swinging his sword for the kill. But Darion took out his sword, using it with his left hand to block the incoming attack, and grabbing hold of the torn land post with his right and swinging it downwards at Dante. Dante shifted to the left, evading this attack, but giving Darion the opportunity to attack as the chain disappeared. Darion kicked at Dante, hitting his blocking arm instead. Using his hand, Dante grabbed Darion's leg in an attempt to throw him. He swung him around, but Darion jammed his sword in the ground, and used it as an anchor to pull Dante up into the air, kicking him with his other leg into the waist, taking out 3 HP, and pushing him into the air off balanced. But Dante regained his balance in a mere moment, shooting out a chain at Darion, and pulling him towards himself. Switching to his SMGs, he reloaded his left one, and used his right to punch Darion's face, causing him 5 HP damage, and then punching him with his left one, while reloading his right. Another 5 HP damage was dealt, and Dante pointed both guns at Darion's face. And he was about to press the trigger when Darion used his hands to turn Dante's hands off balance, and causing his bullets to end right and left from his opponent. Darion then took out his own pair of SMGs, kicking off of Dante with his feet, and flying into the air as he started shooting at Dante. Knocking down a few with his SMGs, Dante sent another chain at the flying Darion, using his momentum to pull himself towards him in the air, and pointing his guns, about to shoot again. But Darion pointed his own guns at Dante's face as well. And now both fighters were in a tight spot. With two guns at Dante's, and another 2 at Darion's face, none of them pulled the trigger. They looked at each other as seconds turned to centuries, and looking into the opponents eyes they saw each other's will to win clearly. Both of them started shooting at the same time, dodging the other man's bullets in the process. Their bodies turned around for a whole circle, and again they ended up in the same situation. As they were falling, Darion switched to his sword, swinging it forwards in an attempt to stab his opponent. Dante was faster however, jumping onto his sword and doing a going above Darion, shooting his shoulders as he went by, causing 21 HP damage, and landing on the ground behind him. Darion turned around, looking at Dante's sword pointed at him. He knocked it off target, swinging it at Dante's neck. His opponent repelled this attack by swinging his sword downwards, turning in the process, and ending up left of Darion, doing a horizontal swing at the back of Darion's head. Darion ducked, dodging this and swinging at his opponent's feet. Dante jumped up, twisting into a circle, and doing a downwards swing at Darion, only to hit the ground as Darion rolled to the side, evading this. They were equals with a sword, and the same thing could be said about their skill with guns, even though their style of fighting was completely different. But Dante had an advantage, and that was his skill of choice, the bind skill. That chain he keeps throwing at Darion that is. So he used this advantage. He threw his chain, but Darion swung his sword upwards, causing the chain to wrap around the sword instead of him. He then jumped up, intending to impale Dante. But Dante spun his entire body, evading this attack and landing next to Darion. Pulling his end of the chain, he pulled Darion, ducking and using leg to kick him into the air. Darion ended up on a building, managing to land on it with his feet, and with the chain on his sword disappearing. He propelled at Dante, slamming his sword against Dante's. Dante repelled Darion's, doing as Darion had expected. He aligned his sword horizontally, and spinning it with his hand, he trusted forwards. And even though this attack was blocked, Dante got pushed back quite a lot, as Darion expected. He used this opportunity to dash at Dante, hitting him with his shoulder, right into the abdomen. Dante went further back, losing another 34 HP. But as he was going backwards, he shot his chain at Darion, capturing him and pulling Darion into him, and propelling at him at the same time, hitting him with his shoulder too. But this time the force was greater, and Darion lost 44 HP. But at the same time, both went flying into the opposite direction. This fight was nearing its end, with both fighters low on HP, and with the moon fading away. The sun began showing, and a red light covered the battlefield. Both Dante and Darion got on their feet. They used the distance between them to reload their SMGs. Starting to run at each other, Dante shot his chain trying to capture Darion, but Darion dodged this one. And another one by jumping up. He was determined to win, but so was Dante. They started shooting at each other, and as Darion had jumped, he went over Dante, both ending up behind each other. Dante turned around switching to his sword, and looking at Darion.

"The dawn is here kid. That means we gotta finish this."

"I guess so." Darion switched to his own sword, looking at the sun coming up. "Let's go!" He rushed at him, and Dante did the same. Darion swung his sword forwards, but Dante went under him, cutting Darion on the waist. As Darion stopped, Dante turned around, deliver another blow to the back, and going in front of Darion. With 1 HP left, Darion used his strength to swing his sword at Dante's head. Catching his sword with his left, Dante let out:

"Jackpot!" He pulled Darion's sword downwards like a slot machine, going forwards with his sword, impaling Darion in the chest, and going upwards, splitting his upper half, turning his body to nothing more then green numbers.

The fight was over, so Dante went to the nearest bar. It was empty, so he went back to the bar, only to find an unfinished strawberry sundae. He sat down, and finished his drink…


	17. Chapter 17

Patrick was running through the city, jumping from one skyscraper to another. Eventually he saw his opponent, sitting on the middle of the road, just outside a wrecked shop. He dropped down, walking up to him.

"Yo Project!" Patrick neared Ruben, smoking a cigarette and sitting next to him.

…Accessing Data Bank- User name: Hatchet vs TheLastProject

Data type: Duel…

"So…You beat Kol huh?" Patrick looked at his watch, with Ruben's codename showing on it.

"Yeah. Go figure."

"Heh. You'd think by now he would learn not to underestimate opponents."

"Agreed." Ruben looked at Patrick. "He used to be in your clan, right Hatch?"

"Used to be is the key word. But you know him. That big ego eventually made him quit."

"Tell me about that." Ruben laughed. "But enough about him. Who was your opponent?"

"Some girl named Thornsap. She was…not quite what I expected." He smiled for a bit, soon going back to his focused self.

"I've heard about her. Double melee huh? That must've been interesting. How'd you manage?"

"Your just keep soaking info, don't ya?" Patrick finished his cigarette and threw it on the ground, stomping it with his foot. "But I did ok, I think."

"Heh." Ruben got up smiling. "So what do you say we stop talking now?" He grabbed Patrick's hand, helping him up.

"Sounds good." He tapped Ruben on the back. "Let's go then!" Both backed away from each other, materializing their SMGs. Both started shooting as they ran behind a small, two-floor building for cover. Both reloaded their guns and started running up on the wall. And when they got to the top, Ruben started shooting at Patrick, but failed to hit anything as Patrick dodged all bullets, shifting to his railgun and charging it, just as he crouched behind a ventilation exit. As he fully charged it, he got up, finding Ruben with a handgun pointed at him. Ruben started shooting, hitting Patrick in the shoulder for 13 HP, just as he released a fully charged blast at his head. A shield intercepted the blast however, as Ruben materialized it in the last second. Patrick fell off the building's edge, but anchored back, going into the air in the process. He used this chance to fire a few non-charged blasts at Ruben. Ruben started dodging left and right, but got hit in the chest once. Because it was an uncharged blast, it did 21 HP damage, but if it was fully charged, this match would've been over. Once Patrick landed on the roof, he changed to his counter sword, running towards Ruben. Doing the same thing, Ruben propelled in the air, going for an aerial strike. Just as Patrick swung upwards with his CS, Ruben delivered a downwards punch, and both swords ended up hitting each other, the effect being a demolished roof, and both fighters gone flying into different directions, with Patrick losing 16 HP, and Ruben 10 HP, as he was in the air. Now both fighters were in the air, each of them landing on a tall light post. Between them the small building was half demolished. Patrick started charging his railgun again, just as Ruben reloaded his handgun. He started shooting at Patrick, missing two times as the distance was great. And when he finally got focused, he shot out a deadly bullet towards his opponent's forehead. Seeing this as an opportunity, Patrick released his railgun, bursting through the bullet as it went towards Ruben. With a deadly precision, Ruben shot out the last few bullets in his handgun, each of them hitting the blast, getting destroyed, but weakening the blast by a little. In the end, as it was about hit Ruben, Ruben simply blocked it with his hand, suffering as much as 1 damage. He laughed at Patrick, reloading his SMGs and shooting at him, destroying the post Patrick stood on, and causing him to jump up, and anchor to the wrecked building between them, then anchor to the building behind Ruben. As he was going towards him, Patrick started shooting with his SMGs. He hit Ruben's shield, but from the small force of the bullets, Ruben was knocked off balance. He started falling down, but managed to grab onto the light post, materializing his CS, and jumping at Patrick, going towards him with his metal fist. He grabbed onto the chain, and pulled it off the building, swinging it and throwing Patrick in the air. The board he was on disappeared and Patrick was in the air, open for attacking. As he was falling down, Ruben started shooting with his SMGs at Patrick. With his weapons empty, Patrick decided to use his CS to block the attack. He used his fist to block the incoming bullets, doing so successfully. And just as Ruben ran out of bullets, he landed on the ground, whilst Patrick was still in the air. He anchored to the roof of the building, looking down at Ruben. Ruben changed to his CS and started running up the wall, going at Patrick. Patrick reloaded his railgun, charging his shots for a little, and then shooting at Ruben. These were easily dodged as Ruben kept going left and right while running. As he neared the top, he swung at Patrick. This attack was dodged as well, as all Patrick had to do was go back a few steps. He shot another blast at Ruben, but as Ruben was falling down, he dodged this, grabbing onto the edge with his hand, and propelling at Patrick. He slashed at his opponent with his small blade, following that with a leg sweep. Patrick jumped up, changing to his CS as well. He did a downwards attack at Ruben, and clang him to the ground as he tried to block this attack with his fist. With no other way out, Ruben pushed him off into the air, rolling to the side just as Patrick went down, hitting the ground where he was lying just a moment ago. He stood up on his feet, dashing at Patrick, going to the left, and propelling at him for a side attack. Doing a similar thing, Patrick dodged to the right to evade the attack, and propelled at Ruben. Ruben blocked the attack, getting pushed back. He smirked at Patrick. Their skill with the counter sword was equal. And how wouldn't it be? Both of them learned from the best. And that best was Cristo. He might've been a big egomaniac, but he knew his way around with the CS. So both of them knew they won't get anywhere fighting with a CS. So Ruben turned around, pushing Patrick off the edge, and taking out his handgun. Patrick anchored back, taking out his SMGs, and reloading them as he was rushing back at Ruben, flying on his anchor board. He unleashed a barrage of bullets, destroying the ground on which Ruben was standing and forcing him to move backwards. Ruben started shooting as well, hitting the board as Patrick used it as a shield of sorts. But then it disappeared and he landed on his feet, now using his own SMG bullets to deflect Ruben's. He kept shooting until both his SMGs and Ruben's handgun were empty. Now Patrick decided a change of tactics. He jumped down from the building, anchoring to the side and going for an attack from a blind spot. But as he was anchoring, Ruben went to the edge where he dropped from. Seeing him gone made him think about what Patrick was up to. He changed to his CS and slammed the ground, causing all the close-by windows to brake. In doing so, he entered an abandoned warehouse for paper. He saw Patrick moving through the air on his anchor. He started shooting with his handgun, breaking through the windows and hitting Patrick for 24 points of damage. Patrick fell down from his board, anchoring back through the broken windows, and into the warehouse. He was looking for Ruben, who was hiding behind a stalk of paper. He started walking around, looking for Ruben when he jumped into the air, going behind Patrick, shooting him in the process. Luckily, Patrick was able to dodge this attack, shooting back at his opponent. He lit a cigarette, smoking it for a bit, and looking around.

"Hey Project. Look around you man." Patrick shouted as Ruben walked before him. "Guess what's coming up?" He smiled. Ruben looked at his cigarette, and in that exact moment, Patrick threw it into a pile of paper, causing it to go into flames, and soon the entire area was covered in flames. They were surrounded by fire, with no exit. They started shooting at each other, each dodging his opponent's bullets. All the flying bullets had to end up somewhere. And that somewhere were the walls. Weakened by the fire and flames in the warehouse, and even more weakened by the bullets going into them, the walls started breaking off. The building started to collapse…


	18. Chapter 18

They were surrounded by fire, with no exit. They started shooting at each other, each dodging his opponent's bullets. All the flying bullets had to end up somewhere. And that somewhere were the walls. Weakened by the fire and flames in the warehouse, and even more weakened by the bullets going into them, the walls started breaking off. The building started to collapse…

…Accessing Data Bank- User name: Hatchet vs TheLastProject

Data type: Duel, part 2…

As they continued to shoot at each other, a metal pillar broke down, and the building leaned a little. Soon every pile of paper was reduced to ashes, but still, the flames kept swallowing objects one after another. The heat was too much. Even with their enhanced strength and endurance, their health started lowering 1 point at a time. In mere 2 minutes of shooting and dodging to reload, they lost 10 HP each. Another pillar broke down. Now the upper floors and the roof were only holding onto 2 parallel pillars. But as they kept shooting, they noticed another problem. The whole building started collapsing. The flames must've gotten through to the lower floors. Now it was a matter of time before the whole thing would go down. The third and the fourth pillar bended from the weight strain on them. Blocks of concrete from the upper floors started to fall down. One almost hit Ruben, but instead it fell on his shield, which was activated in the last second. Still it was a lot of weight. The shield wouldn't hold much. Patrick saw that, and instead of using the opportunity to finish him off, he charged his railgun, blasting the block in one shot.

"Thanks man." He got up.

"Don't thank me yet!" Patrick charged for another shot, aiming this at Ruben. Changing to his Counter Sword, Ruben dashed forwards, jumping in the air and going at Patrick. Dodging a railgun beam, he had his chance for a hit. But instead he swung his fist above Patrick, destroying a large chunk of concrete, one that was about to hit Patrick. They looked at each other, knowing that the roof might collapse on their heads any moment. So Patrick changed to his CS, giving Ruben a signal. They stood back to back, waiting for the roof to collapse. They didn't have to wait long, as in a couple of seconds, the two pillars broke down and the roof went down. But just as it was about to flatten both of them, in a conjoined move, they did an upward swing with their CSs, the result being a roof split in two. They were safe for the moment, so they decided to continue their fight. They started clashing their swords. Fist to fist, blade to blade. Patrick grabbed Ruben's blade with his fist, hurling him into the air, but Ruben managed to land safely, just as Patrick was running towards him. Swinging with his fist at Ruben, Patrick almost hit him, but Ruben rolled to the left, and quickly tried to punch his opponent. Doing a backwards jump, Patrick evaded this, but Ruben's fist ended in the floor beneath them. And that was all it took. The whole thing collapsed, and not only breaking down to the ground, but actually falling down underground, and both fighters ending up in a set of sewers. When they came to, they were surrounded by a series of tunnels and pipes, each leading into an unknown direction. A screen appeared on the top, and a shadowy figure spoke, with its face hidden.

"You have reached the semi-finals of the eSper challenge. To get to the finals, you must defeat your opponent! Once you have done so, you have exactly 30 minutes to find your way into the coliseum, where the finals will take place!" The screen turned black, and Patrick looked at Ruben.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" He lit another cigarette "You heard the man! Let's go!" He took his revolver, shooting the last bullet in his revolver. Ruben used his metal hand as a shield, deflecting a bullet into the pipe below, causing a hot gas to sprout. It was between the two, so now there was no chance of a melee attack. Putting up his shield, Ruben started shooting his handgun, hoping to hit the pipes around Patrick. But Patrick used his revolver masterfully, blocking out every single handgun bullet heading his way. He then took out his CS, and slamming it into the broken pipe, he closed the breach by jamming several pipes together and closing off the hole. He then jumped at Ruben for an attack, and when his opponent tried to block it with his CS, Patrick used the close-by wall to rebound off it, and go around Ruben for an opening. Ruben quickly turned around grabbing Patrick's fist, but Patrick kicked him with his legs, slamming him against the wall and taking out 7 HP. Ruben changed to his handgun and quickly shot out several shots at close range. Blocking the attack with his CS, Patrick only suffered a minor HP loss, as low as 13 HP. Ruben kept shooting at Patrick, pummeling him into the corner. Patrick slowly struggled to get up. But he couldn't so he slowly put his leg to the wall slowly, and once Ruben's last bullet hit his shield, he propelled himself into Ruben, slamming him and breaching through the wall, going into another tunnel. He then held onto Ruben's throat with his metal hand, and violently kept stabbing him in the gut with his blade. Blood dripped from Ruben's mouth as he tried to fend Patrick off. There was something strange. Patrick was somewhat changed. His past went through his eyes. He remembered the time when he was kicked in a corner and bullied by the older kids. It was the same this time, even though by a different person. He wanted payback for those moments, and now he had it. Changing to his CS, Ruben fended off Patrick, slamming him into the wall. But Patrick was as furious as he can get. He changed to his railgun, clinging Ruben to the wall with his foot, and charging it up. With his last strength, Ruben tried to push off. He pushed off Patrick's leg, and swung forwards. But Patrick turned away, ending up behind Ruben. Grabbing him by the neck, he pushed him to the wall, and touched his railgun to Ruben's head.

"You've…just…"He was breathing heavily between words, exhausted from a reason unknown. "…been…"He looked down, and shook his head to set his hair right. "…Thomahawk'd!!!" He released the beam, piercing through Ruben's head and the wall after him. He sat down. His nightmare was finally over. But his tournament wasn't. He looked at his watch and a countdown timer starting from 30 minutes and going down started. So he started running. He ran in the first direction he saw. He ended up before a wall. Tired of walking back, he blasted through it with his CS, trusting in his instincts. And they were right indeed. He ended up in a hi-tech looking coliseum. He was alone and the same shadowy figure appeared on the screen.

"I'm so glad you made it! Now let's meet your opponent!" He pointed towards the other end of the giant coliseum, from where another shadowy figure came out…


	19. Chapter 19

Dante was relaxing on a private yacht, near the beach of the small lake inside the eSper city. Sipping a drink in a tall glass, he lifted his legs on the table before him, and started looking at the city, doing so as he drank the strawberry sundae. He lowered his glasses, looking at the distance. In one moment, he lifted his leg and suddenly slammed the table before him, causing it to go into the air, intercepting an otherwise-deadly railgun beam. The table received the blast instead, getting ripped apart in an instant.

"So, my date for tonight has arrived." He got up, looking at the mirror behind him and setting up his hair…

…Accessing Data Bank- User name: Dante vs Psycho

Data type: Duel…

It was Helena who shot that beam. Observing him from a tall skyscraper. She immediately dropped down, going to the beach and jumping on a nearby boat. Stomping the engine with her foot, she headed into Dante's direction. Going dead-on towards the yacht, both her and Dante jumped up just as the boat rammed the yacht, exploding in the process. Both of them landed on wood remains scattered around the lake. They were both calm, focused to say the least. And even though they looked as if both were in control, it took a lot of balance to simply stay on the pieces they were on. With the lake sprouting waves from the collision, both fighters kept going up and down and nearly riding the waves.

"Shall we dance?" He bowed down, jumping towards Helena, and landing on a board, using the momentum to ride it towards her, standing still in some sort of a dancing pose. Helena took her gauss rifle, shooting out several bursts in his direction. With a rose he had picked up from the yacht in his mouth, Dante kept going towards her, dodging her shots with ease. Then suddenly, Helena did a backwards flip, sending the board she was standing on flying towards Dante at high speeds.

"Ok then…"Dante took out his sword, cutting down the oncoming piece of wood. "…If you're not in the mood, I get it." He smiled, walking towards her. "I guess I'll just do a solo!" He took out his guns, shooting at her as he was jumping towards. And in a similar manner as before, he jumped on a board, riding it towards Helena, doing so while shooting at the same time. Helena just dodged his attacks, going backwards in the process. She took out her Revolver and blasted Dante's surfing board, forcing him to jump up in the air, and creating an opportunity for her to slide under him, unleashing a burst of bullets from her gauss rifle. Catching him off guard, she managed to hit him a few times, dealing 20 HP damage. But Dante shot out his chain, deflecting a few bullets and wrapping it around her arm. With a single pull with his arm, Helena went flying towards Dante. While she was flying, she took out her revolver, blasting it from close range, setting herself free. But in doing so, she was open for attacks. And Dante came rushing into her, slamming her with his sword, and forcing both of them into the lake, deep under the surface. And down there, it was a matter of time before they ran out of air. And no air means game over for both. But they weren't just going to dive up to the surface. They started fighting until they run out of breath. Dante swung at her with his sword, but through the water, the sword was moving slower and Helena could dodge it with ease, even though her body was getting slowed down as well. She shot out several revolver bullets, and as expected, she hit nothing. She knew that sooner or later he'll land a hit on her. So she kicked off him, diving up. But a chain caught her leg, and she was pulled down. Dante used his free hand, punching her in the stomach. She puked out some blood, and even though her body healed, there was an 11 HP loss showing up on the watch. She immediately tried to shoot her opponent with her revolver, but it was no use. Dodging bullets underwater was much easier then above the water. Again, she kicked off Dante, diving upwards. Losing breath, Dante need air as well, but he decided one last move before going to the surface. Switching to his PS, he hurled it towards Helena, in an attempt to stab her. But Helena saw it in the last moment, and using it as a stepping stone, she stood on it as the sword went out of the lake and into the air, with Helena on top of it. Quickly charging her railgun, she waited until the sword stopped rising. And just before she fell down, she released a beam of energy, splitting the surface of the lake. But due to the water reflecting some surfaces, seeing through it was hard, even with her detect skill. So instead of Dante, Helena hit the ground. But nevertheless, the void she caused was enough for Dante to hurl a chain to his sword, taking it from under Helena's feet, and jumping out of the void just as the water collided back into shape. Realizing she would fall right into her opponent's hands, Helena took her revolver and waited for the right moment. And that moment was just as Dante swung his PS at her, smiling as though he was enjoying this. Several inches before hitting her, Helena shot her revolver, the result being Dante's sword going backwards and him off balanced. But just before she shot another bullet into his heart, Dante turned to her, grabbing her hand and moving it enough so that the bullet ended in the water. Now both were standing on a small piece of wood, practically hugging each other to stay on.

"Ole!" Dante said as he put his arm around her waist, lowering her as if they were dancing.

"Fuck you!" She slammed him in the head with her revolver, causing him to let go off her, and Helena ended up in the lake.

"Now look what you made me do!" He laughed at her, offering to pull her out of the water. But just as Dante's hand was about to grab hers, Helena shot her revolver into his face. But Dante dodged as usual.

"Fuck off!" She kicked the piece of wood, throwing him into the lake. She was furious, but Dante seemed to be having a lot of fun. Climbing onto the board and gaining some balance, she pointed her railgun at Dante, charging it. She used her skill to see Dante's silhouette rising upwards, and fast. She was about to fire when he burst through the surface of the water. Smiling at her, Dante put up his sword in front of him, holding it upside down. He did that just as Helena released the railgun's trigger, sending a beam and hitting Dante's sword. Getting pushed back a lot, Dante was practically surfing on the water with his own two feet. And just as he started slowing down, he put his sword under his feet so he wouldn't fall down. Now they were half a mile apart. Sending his chain and wrapping it around a coral rock that was standing still above the surface, he pulled it and went surfing towards Helena. There were artificial waves, so he started climbing on them, surfing like a pro.

"Woohoo!" He cheered "Yeah! That's what I'm talking about!" He was going up and down at great speeds, approaching Helena at a fast pace.

"Ok wise guy. Let's do it your way." She started charging her railgun, and spinning it on her finger. And when it was fully charged, she aimed it closely behind her board, touching the rear end of it with her railgun and shooting out a beam which in turn caused a massive feedback to the board, sending her flying as well.

"Heh. I like this!" She started shooting at Dante with her gauss rifle. In turn Dante started shooting as well, firing his SMGs as he was dodging Helena's shots. Helena did the same thing, as it was hardly any trouble dodging shots while surfing. And when both ran out of bullets, with Dante having no other weapon, Helena got her chance. She started charging her railgun, but Dante threw his chain in an attempt to throw her in the lake. But Helena saw this coming, so she caught the chain with her other hand, pulling him towards her with his sword. And just as she decided to let go off the trigger, at almost close range, something happened that saved Dante. A giant wave engulfed both from nowhere, sending them deep underwater and taking out 30 HP from each. When they woke up, they were closed off inside a cave. Crystals and corals everywhere, with no trace of an opening through which they could have come in the cave, or one through which they would go out. As they were turning around, caught by surprise, they knew one thing. They felt it. They felt…like they weren't in the City anymore…


	20. Chapter 20

…When they woke up, they were closed off inside a cave. Crystals and corals everywhere, with no trace of an opening through which they could have come in the cave, or one through which they would go out. As they were turning around, caught by surprise, they knew one thing. They felt it. They felt…like they weren't in the City anymore…

…Accessing Data Bank- User name: Dante vs Psycho

Data type: Duel, part 2…

It was a beautiful cave, filled with sea flora. When both were up on their feet, a hologram appeared in front of them. A man with his body covered in shadow and his silhouette the only thing visible.

"Welcome semi-finalists." He showed a holographic screen showing Patrick and Ruben fighting in the sewers. "One of these men is going to be your opponent in the next round. But for now, you have to worry about the person next to you. Now your fight for the final begins!" The hologram disappeared.

"Who was that creepy dude?" Helena turned to Dante.

"I don't know. But this cave sure is perfect for a date." He smiled at her, approaching her slowly. Soon however, a gun was touching his nose.

"Hell no!" She pulled the trigger, almost hitting him. Dodging in the last moment, he materialized his plasma sword and plunging it forwards at Helena. She intercepted the sword with the handle of her revolver, shooting it with her thumb. Throwing his sword towards Helena, Dante blocked all incoming shots, and as the sword was blocking her vision, he used the opportunity, kicking it and sending her into the cave's wall. Kicking it back at Dante, Helena rushed at him, slamming him with her Gauss rifle, and sending him upwards into the cave's ceiling, causing him to lose 7 HP. He stepped on the ceiling and took out his SMGs. He then start firing rapidly, with the knock back from the guns causing him to stay glued in an upside down position. Helena evaded, going backwards as she charged her railgun. She then released a thick beam of energy, and hitting Dante's guns, as he had used them to block the beam. But the force of the beam was enough to penetrate the cave and throw Dante into another, bigger cave. In here the surroundings were more hi-tech, with steel walls showing from under the rocks. Helena jumped up, charging her railgun yet again, but a chain intercepted her second attack, as Dante threw his signature chain which enveloped Helena's weapon, and with a single flick of a wrist, the railgun was thrown into the air, shooting its beam into the ceiling. Dante then threw another chain just as his first one disappeared, wrapping it around Helena's neck.

"Getting a little PSYCHOtic, aren't we?" He laughed as he plunged his sword at her. Jumping up, she grabbed his sword in between her legs, twisting her body in mid-air and throwing Dante off-balance. The chain disappeared and she took out her revolver, pointing it at the back of his head. He smiled, dodging the bullet just as it cut through his thick hair. Grabbing his sword from the floor and turning around in one swift move, Dante ended up in a favorable position. His sword at his opponent's throat, with his other hand holding up Helena's hand with her revolver in it.

"Now what, Psycho?" He asked her, nodding his head. Helena only smiled, as she twisted her revolver, slamming Dante's hand, and just as he trusted his sword, she pulled him forwards, and yet again shooting him from behind as he was airborne. Dante did a swift pirouette, just in time to use his sword, moving in through the air, and slamming the incoming bullets with it. But as he turned around to land on his feet, he slashed at Helena, sending the same bullets back at her. Another 4 bullets came out, successfully blocking this attack. Helena took out her gauss rifle, unleashing several barrages of bullets going straight at Dante. With his Plasma Sword in front as a shield, he rushed forwards blocking every bullet at him. But as he approached her, he suddenly jumped up, using his left foot to propel from the wall, and seemingly disappear. He appeared behind her, slamming Helena with his PS, and doing 30 HP damage. Some blood dripped from her mouth, but she quickly regained consciousness as she turned around to shoot her revolver. But Dante was gone. He was behind her, ready to slam her again. But she was faster. Shooting her revolver, the 3 side fragments missed, but the middle hit a spot no man likes to see hurt.

"Oh my manhood!" he dropped to the ground, just as quickly as Helena got on her feet. She pointed her revolver, not waiting for him to get up. But just as she pressed the trigger, her feet went up into the air, and her shot ended up misplaced yet again. Dante had caught her legs with his chain, pulling her up. He then quickly got up and slammed into Helena with his PS. Rushing forwards he carried her on his sword, eventually slamming her into the wall.

"No more Mr Nice guy." He started thrusting his PS relentlessly, knocking her unconscious several times. And just as she aimed her revolver for one last shot, Dante pulled out his own guns, using only one to smack her revolver to the side, and aimed it at her head.

"Jackpot!" He put a bullet in her head. She dematerialized into binary code as another hologram appeared.

"You won. I congratulate you. The arena is ahead of you. Go there to meet your opponent." Dante started walking slowly, as a grim memory ran through his head. It was that of a girl he had killed, early in his life as a detective. Her face had haunted him for the 5 years he spent as a detective. Even now, shooting down that girl, it felt just like it, even though unreal. He saw light, which meant he was getting close. After another 3 minutes of walking, he was there. He entered a giant Colosseum with tall structures on the side. Both his, and Hatchet's watch reset as a face appeared in the screen on top.

"Welcome finalists. I congratulate you on your past victories. But now it's time for the main spectacle. The finale of the eSper Challenge!" The man smiled. "Now...BEGIN!"

Both fighters started running at each other. This is going to be one hell of a finale!


End file.
